I Will Be What I Believe Lesson & Song Actions

I strive to keep my lessons short since the children already have a lesson in Primary about what was learned in Come Follow Me during the week.  I do like to highlight who we are learning about in the Book of Mormon since this year in our primary we have been focusing on Book of Mormon heroes.  We were studying about Abinadi in Come Follow Me the week that I introduced "I Will Be What I Believe."  You can relay the message using whichever Book of Mormon prophet is being studied the week you teach "I Will Be What I Believe".  

Lesson:

"In Come Follow Me this week we read about Abinadi. Who was Abinadi? (Take 2 answers.) Abinadi was a prophet who taught about repentance. King Noah didn’t like what Abinadi was teaching so he arrested him and had him killed, but not before Abinadi gave a powerful testimony of Jesus Christ. Did you know there is a verse of Book of Mormon Stories about Abinadi?"

Sing:  Book of Mormon Stories #118 Verse 4: 

Don't forget Abinadi, who stood before the king.

All Chained up from head to toe, the gospel he did bring.

If he would deny it, then the king would set him free.

He was true, and he died righteously.

"Abinadi was a true hero.  He died standing for what is right.  He would not deny God or Jesus Christ.  He was brave, courageous, honorable, true, noble, and righteous.  Abinadi was what he believed." 

"Whatever you believe will determine who you are.  What you believe will be the deciding  factor on your words and actions.  It will determine the course of your life."

Introduce "I Will Be What I Believe":

I taught the first verse one week and the second verse the next week.  

Go through each line of the song.  Sing the first line and then have the children sing it back to you.  Do this with each line of the song.  Then teach the actions to the words.  Here are the actions that I used:

VISUALS TO "I WILL BE WHAT I BELIEVE":

If you would like visuals to "I will Be What I Believe" then you can find them HERE.

 

 

Song Visuals in Alphabetical Order

I will post the visuals I have that are digital.  I have many more visuals that are not digital since I was first called to be chorister in the year 2000.  I will continue to add to this visual post whenever I make new visuals.  Some visuals are great and others worked for me in the moment.  If you want visuals for holidays and seasonal then scroll past the church songs.  

CHILDREN SONGBOOK SONGS:

A Child's Prayer Verse 1

A Child's Prayer Verse 2

Dare to Do Right Verse 1

Did Jesus Really Live Again (I did not make these visuals)

He Sent His Son

He Sent His Son (For some odd reason I have two lines of the song in a separate PDF.  The below PDF is of the lines "live like his son" and "What does he ask?  Live like His son".

I Feel My Savior's Love Verse 1

I Feel My Savior's Love Verse 2 (The first line of the verse is the bottom visual for some reason)

I'll Walk With You

I Know that My Savior Loves Me Verse 1 and Chorus

I Know that My Savior Loves Me Verse 2

   

I Think When I Read That Sweet Story

I Will Be Valiant

I Will Be What I Believe Verse 1 & 2 & Chorus

I Wonder When He Comes Again

Jesus Once Was a Little Child

My Heavenly Father Loves Me

My Heavenly Father Loves Me Verse 2

Nephi's Courage Verse 1

Nephi's Courage Verse 2

Nephi's Courage Verse 3

Scripture Power Verse 1

Scripture Power Verse 2

Search, Ponder, and Pray

Teach Me To Walk In The Light

We'll Bring the World His Truth (Armies of Helaman) Verse 1

We'll Bring the World His Truth (Armies of Helaman) Verse 2

We'll Bring the World His Truth (Armies of Helaman) Verse 3

CHRISTMAS & WINTER

Christmas Bells Are Ringing

Oh What Do You Do In The Wintertime

Snowflakes Falling on the Evergreen Trees (Goes to the song Popcorn Popping)

Stars Were Gleaming

MOTHER'S DAY:

That's My Mother (Goes to song Our Bishop)

FATHER'S DAY:

The Dearest Name (Father's Day)

Scripture Power Verse 2 Lesson, Visuals, and Combat Sword Song Actions

ITEMS NEEDED FOR THE LESSON & ACTIVITY:

*Cardstock or Printing Paper

*Printer

*Scissors 

*Tape

PREPARATION BEFORE SUNDAY:

1.  Make the soldier and the Armor of God by printing the parts and cutting them out.  I laminated the soldier and the armor.  Here is what the soldier will look like with and without The Armor of God on:

My mom gave me the soldier and Armor of God.  I scanned them so I can share it with you.  There are also Soldiers and Armor of God parts that you can find on the internet.  Here are the PDF soldier and Armor of God parts for you to make your own soldier and Armor of God:

  

2.  Make a "sword" for each child in primary.  The "sword" is made by rolling a piece of paper.  I used cardstock.  You can either put a piece of paper under each chair in primary before primary starts and have the children roll the paper themselves, or roll them yourself and use a piece of tape to keep it in place.  I made all of the "swords" before church so that we did not have to take time having the children try and roll the paper and it possibly coming apart.  I put all the "swords" in grocery bags so it was easy to bring them to church.  Here is a sample of the "swords" I made:

3.  Learn the combat actions to the second verse of "Scripture Power".  This is where the paper swords will be used.  I got the combat actions here:

4.  Print off the PDF of the combat action reminder pictures.  The pictures are not great, but they helped me to remember the combat actions as I was teaching them to the primary. 

 

  

5.  Print off the visuals for "Scripture Power" verse two.  Here are the PDF visuals for "Scripture Power" verse two:

If you would like the visuals to the first verse and chorus of "Scripture Power" then you can find them here, along with a lesson and song actions.

PREPARATION AT CHURCH BEFORE PRIMARY STARTS:

I leave before Sacrament Meeting is over to go to the Primary room to set up.  There is another ward that is in their second hour of church when our ward starts Sacrament Meeting.  The other ward gets out about a half hour before our Sacrament Meeting is over.  I leave Sacrament Meeting in time to set anything up that I am using that day.  I am grateful for a Primary Presidency that helps me set up also!

Setup Before Primary:

1.  Tape the soldier to the board in front of the Primary room.  You will also need tape to put the armor on the soldier during primary.  Put the armor somewhere that is easy to grab.  Make sure there is enough room at the top of the board for the visuals to the song.

2.  Put the copy of the lesson and the combat moves reminder paper on the music stand so you can easily see them.

3.  Put a paper "sword" under each chair.

LESSON:

Here is the lesson plan for teaching the second verse of "Scripture Power".  The children loved it!

Lesson:

1. Point to the soldier taped on the board.

Is the soldier protected from an attack?  (no)

What does the soldier need to protect himself?  (armor)

We can have armor to protect us against Satan.  It is called the Armor of God. 

A.      Put the sword in the soldier’s hand. 

B.      A sword is an item that was used for defense against attack. When we are spiritually attacked, we need what is called “THE SWORD OF TRUTH”. 

C.       The SWORD OF TRUTH represents the word of God.  The words of truth found in the scriptures help us have a defense against Satan’s attack because knowing truth helps us recognize Satan’s deceptions.   

D.     The first line of the second verse is – “I’ll find the sword of truth in each scripture that I learn.”  (Put the visual on the board and sing the line) 

2.      The next line of the verse is – “I’ll take the shield of faith from these pages that I turn.”  (Put the visual on the board and the shield in the soldier’s hand.) 

A.     This is the SHIELD OF FAITH.  As we obey the words found in the scriptures, we see the good results, and we gain faith and trust in God’s words.  Our faith is like a shield that protects us against temptation.  (Sing the line)  

3.       The next line of the verse is – “I’ll wear each vital part of the armor of the Lord.” (Tell the children about each of the rest of the armor parts that are left and put them on the soldier.  Put the rest of the visuals to the song up.) 

         A.  With the armor of God, we are prepared to fight against the temptations of Satan and win!                                    

        B. (Sing “I’ll wear each vital part of the armor of the Lord, and fight my daily battles and win a great reward.”) 

4.      Sing through the entire song. 

5.      Teach the children the combat moves. 

6.      Make sure you give the children direction on behavior before they are able to get their paper sword from under their chairs.  I told my primary, “I brought a paper sword for each of you.  Do not get it out from under your chair until I say to get it.  We first need to go over expectations.  The expectations are that you may not touch anyone with your own body or your sword.  You may only do the combat moves when we are singing the songs.  You may only do the combat moves with me.  There will be no other combat moves allowed.  When we are not singing, you may sit reverently in your chair with your paper sword placed nicely in your lap.” 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here are the definitions of the Armor of God if you need a refresher or if you want to tape the definitions on the back of each armor piece:

Here is an example of what I did on the back of each piece of the Armor of God to make it easy to remember what each piece of armor represents:

My mind is known to go blank suddenly during primary so it is always helpful for me to have extra help!

Scripture Power Song Visuals, Lessons, Activities, and Actions

For teaching verse one and the chorus of "Scripture Power", each child will need a small felt finger cape.

SUPPLIES NEEDED FOR FINGER SUPER HERO CAPE:

*Felt (you can get felt at Walmart) 

*Scissors

*Permanent marker

(THERE IS A VIDEO OF HOW TO MAKE THE CAPES AND THE SONG ACTIONS AT THE END OF THIS BLOG POST.)

__________________________________________________________________ 

***SCRIPTURE POWER VERSE 1 LESSON, ACTIVITY, SONG ACTIONS & VISUALS:

(This year our theme has been Book of Mormon heroes.  I focus on heroic attributes of the prophets in the Book of Mormon.  We were learning about Jacob in Come Follow Me when I introduced the first verse of "Scripture Power" to the Primary children.  You can adapt it to what is being learned in Come Follow Me when you introduce it to your own Primary.  Each Book of Mormon prophet had powers given to him through the spirit.  You can point out the powers of whichever prophet is being learned about in Come Follow Me.)  

LESSON:

"Jacob, in The Book of Mormon, was a great missionary.  He taught the people about Jesus and choosing the right.  He was able to avoid deception when Sharem was telling lies.  He stayed on the straight and narrow path.  Just like Nephi, Jacob is a hero because he was courageous and did what is right. 

When you read the scriptures it gives you super powers.  You invite the experiences of the heroes in the scriptures to be part of you when you read about them.  As you read about the heroes in the scriptures, you will be able to take on their super powers.

You will find greater POWER to resist temptation. You will find the POWER to avoid deception. You will find the POWER to stay on the straight and narrow path. (CTR)"  (I explained what “temptation” and “resist temptation” means because some of the children did not know what the words meant.)

 

Ward Mission Fund Activity (Optional):

(This may not apply to the Book of Mormon prophet that you will be teaching about.  Obviously, this is optional.  Jacob was a great missionary by teaching about Christ.  I got a canning jar and lid.  My husband made a slit in the lid so that coins could fit through it.  I filled two snack size Ziploc baggies with coins.  You could use pennies or a combination of coins.  I told the children that the presidency would go around and see who was singing their best and being reverent.  The presidency handed out coins to the children that were doing their best at singing and being reverent.  One of the presidency members stand at the Primary door as the children walk out of the Primary room.  The children that earned coins put the money in the jar as they walk out.  Once the jar is full, we are going to present the jar to the bishop so that he can put the money in the ward missionary fund. Here is the label for the jar: Jar Label)

INTRODUCE SCRIPTURE POWER:

Make sure you put a felt cape under each chair before the children show up to primary.  Before the children can get the cape out from under their chairs, go over expectations and rules if they want to keep their cape.  I had the Junior Primary put their capes under their chairs at the end of Junior Primary so that the capes were ready for Senior Primary.

Cape Instructions and Song Actions:

(I got the cape idea and some song actions from Brytt Cloward on YouTube.)

I made up more actions so it is more fun for the children.  Click on the link below for my song actions:

My Song Actions

SONG VISUALS:

First Verse:

Chorus:

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.

 

 

 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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: