Don't Eat Nephi! (or any other prophet)

I came up with a version of the game "Don't Eat Pete" the last time we studied the Book of Mormon for Come Follow Me in 2020.  It does not have to be Nephi.  It can be any prophet.  It is a super easy and fun game that the children enjoyed.  Instead of saying, "Don't eat Pete", we say, "Don't eat Nephi!"

Supplies Needed: 

*Nine 8X10 pictures of Nephi (I printed pictures from the Book of Mormon movie.)

*Round magnets (I used these 1-inch round magnets.)

*Glue

*m&m logo for magnets (I searched on google for the m&m's logo)

*Snack-sized m&m's for each child in primary (optional)

Preparation:

1.  Print out the m&m logo on cardstock.  I looked up images of the m&m logo on google.  I had to figure out how large to make the image so that each m&m was the right size for the 1" magnets.

2.  Cut out the m&m logos and then glue them to the magnets

3.  Write names of songs or verses on the back of each picture.  We are learning "Nephi's Courage".  These are the song I wrote on the backs of the nine pictures:

Nephi's Courage verse 1, Nephi's Courage verse 2, Nephi's Courage verse 3, Nephi's Courage all verses, Book of Mormon Stories, Books in the Book of Mormon, chorus of We'll Bring the World His Truth, We'll Bring the World His Truth verse 1, I Will Be Valiant

Game Rules:

If you do not know the rules to "Don't Eat Pete", then you can see the rules here.

Singing Time:

1.  Tape the pictures to the chalkboard in this formation:

(I do not know why I put numbers on each picture back in 2020.  My only guess is that I assigned the song on the backs of the pictures with a number on the front of the pictures and gave the list to the piano player.  If anyone has any other guesses then please let me know.)

2.  Put one m&m magnet on each picture.

3.  Choose a child that is being reverent to go out of the primary room.  Then have another reverent child come up to the front and point to the picture (or number) that is going to be "Nephi".

4.  Have the child that went out of the room come back into the room.  Have the child take one magnet off at a time.  When the child takes the magnet off the picture that is "Nephi" then everyone will say, "Don't eat Nephi!"  

5.  Take the "Don't Eat Nephi" picture off the board and see which song is on the back.  Then sing that song.

6.  You can choose to play the way I played the game or not.  I did not tape the pictures back up after they were chosen as "Don't eat Nephi" so that we could get to all of the songs.

7.  I handed out snack-sized m&m packets to all the children as they left primary since the game is usually played with real m&m's.    

Around the World Singing Time

Supplies Needed:

*Two white poster boards

*Permanent marker or marker

*Scissors

*Nephi Costume (mine is extremely homemade and wonky!  You can use a Christmas nativity costume.)

*Someone to play the role of Nephi 

*Nephi Script below (PDF): 

*You can find my visuals for Nephi's Courage here.

Preparation:  

1.  It was 2020 last time we studied the Book of Mormon for Come Follow Me.  I gave him a very homemade Nephi costume and a short script that I told him does not need to be memorized or perfect.  The script is to introduce Nephi and goes along with the song "Nephi's Courage". 

(The children recognized "Nephi" because he was in my ward at the time.  I asked him because everyone talked about how he looked like the guy that played Nephi on the Book of Mormon movies.  He really did look like him!  This time around I have had a harder time following someone that looks like the Nephi from the Book of Mormon movies.  I did find someone to play Nephi this coming week that the children will not know, so it might go even better than last time.)

2.  I cut two white posters in half.  Then I put one line of the first verse onto each of the poster boards.  I printed out a visual to go along with each line.  In the picture below I used a paper plate.  I like to use visuals that make it easy for the children to remember the words.

Before Primary Starts:

Tape one poster and the visual that goes along with it on each wall of the primary room.  One poster and visual per wall. 

Nephi's Courage Song and Activity:

After "Nephi" introduces himself and tells the children a little about himself, have him open the floor to the children to ask him questions.  Then introduce the song "Nephi's Courage":

1.  Ask the children what makes Nephi a hero.  We are going to be introducing a Book of Mormon hero every month.  This month's hero is Nephi.

2.  Teach the children the chorus and the actions that go along with the chorus.  You can watch this video to learn the actions to the chorus.  I only want to teach the children actions to the chorus and not to the verses.

3.  Go to each wall one at a time and teach the lines to the song.

4.  Start singing the song facing the poster with the first line of the song on it.  Jump or turn to the wall with the poster with the second line on it.  The last line should be facing the front of the primary room so that the children will be facing the front when they do the actions to the chorus.

More Silly Signs (Fun ways to Sing Songs)

If you need instructions on how to make the silly signs, or you want more silly sign ideas, then see my blog post here.

I love coming up with more silly signs (different fun ways to sing a song).  I came up with some more ways to sing songs recently.

*STAND LIKE A FLAMINGO/DANCE LIKE A CHICKEN

*SING LIKE A ROCK STAR(Air guitar or head bang)/DANCE LIKE A ROBOT

*WHISPER LIKE A LIBRARIAN/SING LIKE A BRITISH GENTLEMAN

*SING LIKE A SNORKLER (sing like you're underwater by moving your fingers up and down across your lips)/SING WITH A SMILE (lips can't touch while smiling)

*DANCE LIKE A BALLERINA/DRUM LIKE A DRUMMER

The next two signs do not have back sides.  It is just one sign per painter stick:

*ECHO EACH LINE (There is a picture of a duck on the sign.  There is a myth a duck's quacks do not echo, which has been debunked depending on which scientist one listens.  For the fun of primary, one side of the room will sing a line of the song and the other side will repeat the line throughout the entire song.)

*EACH SIDE SINGS EVERY OTHER WORD (There is a picture of a tennis player serving a ball.  One side of the room will sing the first word of the song and the other side will sing the second word of the song and so forth throughout the song.)

Here are the PDF'S:

Introducing the Book of Mormon and Singing "Book of Mormon Stories" (Who's Your Hero?)

 

I am excited that this year we will be studying The Book of Mormon.  Tomorrow is the first Sunday of the year.   I will be introducing heroes from The Book of Mormon throughout the year.  Tomorrow we will talk about what a hero is and if we know of any heroes.  Here is the outline of my lesson plan tomorrow:

BEFORE PRIMARY STARTS:

Make sure everything is setup before the primary children come into the primary.  I have to leave sacrament meeting early some Sundays to be able to setup for primary since there is a ward that meets right before my ward.  For this activity, I just had to tape words and pictures up and set my flipchart on the music stand.  Anything else I used for the activity I had ready on the little table in front of the primary room.

(I taped the words "WHO'S YOUR HERO?" up on the chalkboard and then taped up pictures of the heroes in the song "Book of Mormon Stories" around the words.  You can use chalk and write the words if that works better for you.  I then taped up the names of the heroes to the side of the chalkboard.)

 Lesson/Activity Plan for Introducing The Book of Mormon:

1.   Have the new Sunbeams come up and sing “Jesus Wants me for a Sunbeam”.  (I made suns out of yellow poster boards for each Sunbeam to hold.  I cut out the middle so they could stick their face through it.)

  

     2.  Teach actions to “The Books of the Book of Mormon”.  Click on the link below to watch a video of the actions.

Actions to The Books in the Book of Mormon

3.  Introduce the Book of Mormon theme for the year.

 Ask:  What is a hero? And let the children say what they think a hero is.

 I looked up the definition of a hero and it says:

 a person who is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities.

Example:  "a war hero"

 What are “noble qualities”?

·         Courage

·         Honesty

·         Integrity

·         Honor

·         Respect

·         Kindness

·         Patience

 This year we are going to be studying The Book of Mormon.  There are heroes throughout the Book of Mormon that we will be getting to know.  As you learn about The Book of Mormon heroes, try to pick out the qualities that make them a hero. 

Did you know that you can be a hero too? 

Choose to be noble and eventually, you will have heroic qualities too!

So many things in life are unchangeable, but in this one thing we are allowed control.

4.  Activity: 

*Sing the first two verses of “Book of Mormon Stories”.  I got some visuals off of a website right here:  Book of Mormon Stories Visuals  

You do not need the visuals to do this activity.

*Explain to the children that you are going to read a short story about a Book of Mormon hero and then they will try to guess who the hero is in the story.  

*Sing the verse in "Book of Mormon Stories" that correlates to the hero in the story.  The first story is about Alma the Younger, so you would sing verse three of “Book of Mormon Stories” since verse three has to do with Alma the Younger.

*Continue with the next story, which is about Abinidi, and once the children guess who it is then sing the fourth verse which has to do with Abinidi, and so forth.

(I was pleasantly surprised at how reverent the children were as I read the stories of each hero.)

Here are the PDF short stories about each Book of Mormon hero in the song "Book of Mormon Stories": 

Here are the PDF words to verses 3-8 of the song "Book of Mormon Stories".  There are three different PDF files with words to the songs.  I put the words in page protectors and then in a 3-ring binder to make a flipchart.

 

 

 

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Extra:

You can use the lesson and activity above.  You could also add a few items.  I have big letters that spell out "WHO'S YOUR HERO?"  I will be taping them to the chalkboard in the front of the primary room.  You could write out, "WHO'S YOUR HERO?" with chalk.  

Then I am putting pictures of each of the Book of Mormon heroes in the verses of the song "Book of Mormon Stories" randomly around the "WHO'S YOUR HERO?" words on the board.  I got the pictures off the church website.  

I then printed out the name of each hero.  I will stick the names of the heroes taped on the wall by the chalkboard.  When the children guess who is in the story then I will take the name of the hero and tape the hero's name under his picture.  

I also got the visuals of "Book of Mormon Stories" off the website https://www.loveprayteach.com/ .  When the children guess the correct hero that goes with the story, I will then pick a reverent child to come up to hold the face of the prophet we are singing about.  The faces are cut out so the child can stick his/her face in it.  

I am also going to have the presidency hand out "high fives" to the children being reverent and singing their best.  I got them off of Amazon.  Just put "finger puppets" in the search bar and a bunch will come up.  

  

Nephi's Courage Visuals

Nephi's Courage Song Visuals:

*There is a separate PDF file for each verse.  Put your cursor over the box with the visual pictures in it.  An icon will show up in the right top corner of the picture box that looks similar to this:

Click on the icon and the visuals will come up to where you can print them.

First Verse:

Second Verse:

Third Verse:

I Know My Savior Loves Me Visuals

I Know that My Savior Loves Me Visuals & Words:

First Verse and Chorus:

Second Verse:

We'll Bring the World His Truth (Armies of Helaman) Visuals (All Verses)

Only two more Sundays and it will be time to start teaching the Book of Mormon!  I am always excited when learning and teaching about the Book of Mormon.  We'll Bring the World His Truth is one of my all time favorite church songs!  Disclaimer:  I did not create any of the images in my visuals.  I have cropped, pasted, and photoshopped many of the visuals which does take a lot of time, especially for an amateur like myself.  

I like to make visuals that fit on an 8.5"x 11" size pieces of paper.  I also do not like using multiple images for the visuals.  I think it is too busy and can be confusing.  I like to pick a large image that catches the eye and/or an image that can help the children remember the words.  For example, in the first visual I use an image of an old man by the word "old" in the line, "as Nephi of old".  I have a few images on the first visual which I usually try to stay away from.  As you will see, in most of my visuals I pick one large image.  I also have words on all of my visuals.  Having the words on the visuals will not make the children unable to memorize the words.  Having the words on the visuals will actually help the children that know how to read learn the song faster.  An image plus the words plus the tune is the quickest way for anyone to remember something.  

I print and then laminate each visual.  I then use very strong magnets to put the visuals up on the board in the primary room when I am teaching the song.  I will post where I get strong enough magnets to hold up poster boards with visuals taped to them.  Once the month is over and I start teaching a new song, I will tape each visual to a poster board.  Having the songs the primary is learning on poster boards makes it easy for me to switch songs quickly.  I grab whichever song poster we are going to sing and stick it on the board with a strong magnet.  I do not like using flip charts as much because then I have to concentrate on flipping the pages.  I would rather have my hands free and be able to lead the song.  The children that need help with the song can look at the poster of the song that is on the board.  I have found that posters are the easiest way for me to be able to switch songs quickly without a fuss or taking up time. 

Here are the PDF visuals to We'll Bring the World His Truth:  

1st Verse:

2nd Verse:

 

3rd Verse:

 

Mother's Day Song to the tune of "Our Bishop"

Here is a cute song and visuals for Mother's Day.  My mom made up the lyrics to go along with the tune to "Our Bishop".  The children love it and so do the adults!  

I know it is not close to Mother's Day.  I am making primary song visuals for my sister for a Christmas gift.  She has a full-time job teaching choir at a junior high in Utah.  She was chorister many years ago and was just called again a few months ago.  She has had no time to make visuals or come up with activities for Sundays.  The first time I was called as chorister she gave me all of her visuals.  That was almost 20 years ago.  I am returning the favor.  

Winter/Christmas Silly Signs

If you need instructions on how to make the silly signs then see my blog post on how to make silly signs here.

We did a Christmas game in primary and I came up with some more silly signs to go along with Christmas and wintertime.  The Christmas/wintertime silly signs I came up with are:

Sip hot cocoa/Make a snow angel (Make one standing up)

Heehaw like Mary’s donkey/Baa like the shepherd’s sheep

Melt like a snowman/stand like a Christmas tree

Shine like the Christmas star/Rock baby Jesus to sleep

Dance like a Nutcracker Ballerina/Sing Ho-Ho-Ho like Santa

Waddle like a penguin/Sing with tusks like a walrus (We sang with bucked teeth)

Hunch like a Hunchback Whale/Antlers like a Reindeer

Click on the two different PDF files below to print off silly signs.

  

Jingle Bell Pong

This Christmas game was a hit!  It is perfect to sing a bunch of songs or review a song the primary is singing for Christmas Sunday.  I got this idea from the blog Playground Parkbench.  I turned the game into a primary singing time game.

Supplies:

*Small red Solo cups 

*Glue Dots

I got these glue dots to stick the cups to the board.  They worked very well.

*20-30mm jingle bells (I got the jingle bells at Michaels also.  There might be some at The Dollar Store.)

*Some type of board or cardboard to glue cups on  (I got four painter canvases from Michael's to make two boards.) 

Instructions:

THE BOARDS:  I first took the four canvases and glued two of them together.  Then I glued the other two canvases together.  I took two of the small cups and glued them to the bottom to make the board angled.  Then I placed the cups in a bowling formation.  I got the glue dots and put two on the bottoms of each cup and then stuck the cups to the board.

PRINTING:  I printed out the Christmas songs we would be singing in primary and some song actions.  I used font 11 so that when I cut them out that the papers would be thin.  I then folded the strips of paper and stuck one in each of the cups.

Game Rules:

You can either use a folding table if you have one at home or use two primary tables and place them together.

Put a board on both ends of the table.

I printed off team names and taped the team names on each side of the table.  The left side was called REBELS WITHOUT A CLAUS and the right side of the room was called THE SNOW IT ALLS.  The kids loved that they had team names.

Ask a child from the left side of the room to come up and stand on one side of the table and then ask a child from the right side of the room to come up and stand on the other side of the table.  Each team member will be handed two jingle bells.  The first team will try to throw a jingle bell into a cup on the other side of the table.  If the first team does not make it into a cup then the second team has two tries to make it into a cup on the other side of the table.  If the second team does not make it into a cup then it is the first teams turn again to try and make it into a cup and so forth until someone makes it into a cup.

Once a team makes it into a cup then you will see which cup the jingle bell landed.  Pick the song out of the cup and sing the song.  I also had actions in about half the cups.  We learned a simple song out of the Children's Songbook called "Stars Were Gleaming".  When an action was picked from a cup then we sang "Stars Were Gleaming" with the action.  

If the first team makes a jingle bell into a cup before the second team has a turn then start with the second team after singing the song.

The team that has the least amount of papers (songs) left in the cups at the end of primary wins.  I know that it is discouraged to have competitive games in primary, but this one was fun and the kids had so much fun!  The junior primary didn't even ask who won so I didn't tell them.  They had so much fun that they didn't care who won! 

Actions:

I made the actions into silly signs.  The kids love the silly signs.  If you do not know how to make the silly signs then look at the silly sign making blog post.  The PDF files for the new silly signs (action visuals) are here.

Hunch like a Hunchback/Antlers like a Reindeer

Sip hot cocoa/Make a snow angel (if anyone doesn't feel comfortable getting on the floor then make snow angels while standing up) 

Heehaw like Mary’s donkey/Baa like the shepherds sheep

Melt like a snowman/stand like a Christmas tree

Waddle like a penguin/Sing with Tusks like a Walrus (we sang with buck teeth)

Shine like the Christmas star/Comfort baby Jesus (rock baby in arms)

Nutcracker Ballet (twirl around on tiptoes)/Sing Ho-Ho-Ho

We did other actions also.  I tried to make everything about winter or Christmas. 

Binder of Visuals & Words:  (You do not need to have a binder full of songs, but I am sharing what I did.)

I put the visuals to the Christmas songs and winter songs in page protectors and a 3-ring binder.  

I usually put my visuals on poster boards that I switch out when practicing program songs, but there were too many Christmas songs to put on poster boards.  The binder made it so much simpler to do this activity.  I have visuals to most of the primary Christmas songs, but I do not have visuals for the Christmas hymns.  

I printed out the words to Christmas hymns on paper and stuck them in the binder.  I only sang one verse of Christmas hymnal songs.  I typed the entire verse out on one sheet of paper.  The children could see the words great.  Everyone was singing.  

(Yes, I need to vacuum my carpet!)

I am sure most of you have seen a chorister place a binder over the music stand and flip pages.  That is what I did for this activity.   The songs I chose are songs that most of the children are familiar with hearing.  The songs I chose are:

Oh What do you Do in the Wintertime (summertime) p. 245

Snowflakes Falling on the Evergreen Trees (Popcorn Popping) p. 242 

We Wish You a Merry Christmas

Away in a Manger p. 42

Christmas Bells p. 54

Picture a Christmas p. 50

The Shepherd’s Carol p. 40b

Joy to the World Hymn 201

Angels We Have Heard on High Hymn 203 

(Sing the “Ah’s” with “Ho-Ho-Ho’s”)

Silent Night Hymn 204

Hark! The Herald Angels Sing Hymn 209

Read the Playground Parkbench blog post on Jingle Bell Pong to get more ideas and other ways to play Jingle Bell Pong.

Reverse Caroling

Two Sundays ago the primary did reverse caroling.  I did not come up with this idea on my own.  I saw it on a blog.  I tried to find the blog post to post it here, but I can't find it.  If I find it then I will come back and share the link.  

I needed a quick, fun activity to teach a simple song for Christmas.  My ward's primary program was very late in the year.  I was asked to have the children sing a Christmas song for Christmas Sunday.  That gave me two weeks to teach a song.  I chose to teach a very simple song from the Primary Children's Songbook.  This activity is good for any Christmas song review.

The children learned the song and then the activity began.

I said, "Raise your hand if you have gone Christmas Caroling."  The children raised their hands who had gone Christmas caroling.  Then I asked, "Who has gone reverse caroling?"  Of course none of the kids raised their hands.  I told them that someone who has been reverent will be asked to go out in the hall and find someone to come to the primary room to hear us sing our Christmas carol.  I asked the teacher of a class to pick a child that had been reverent.  The child went out to the hall (with a presidency member) and brought someone back to the primary room.  As soon as the person came through the door we started singing.  The presidency member instructed them to go to the front of the room.

I had gone to the dollar store to buy candles.  I took the stickers off the candle and tied a ribbon around it and a candy cane.  I handed the visitor the candle and candy cane and told them how the primary wishes them a merry and bright Christmas.  Then I went to the next class's teachers and asked for then to pick a child that had been reverent, and so on.  

I could see the visitor's countenance change as the children sang.  Each visitor had a big smile on his/her face.  I pointed out to the children how they are sharing the gift of  Christ and bringing the spirit of Christmas into other's hearts.  I pointed out that it does not take money to give a gift to someone.  The spirit of Christ is the best gift we can give to someone during the Christmas season.

I forgot to take pictures.  It was a simple and enjoyable activity!