Use these songbird cards to practice a song that your primary has recently learned.  Print the document at the bottom of the post and cut out the cards.  Have the children choose a card and sing the practice song in the manner of the bird on the card.  My suggestions are below.

CHICKEN

Do the chicken dance

-or- flap your "wings"

-or- bob your head

DUCK

A duck's quack doesn't echo!  Have one side sing a line at a time and have the other side echo it.

-or- Sing through the song without repeating any words.  If you get to a word you've sung before, keep your mouth closed.  (This is hard but SO fun.  Only try it in Senior and only try it slowly.)

FLAMINGO

Stand on one leg.

HUMMINGBIRD

Hum.

MACAW

Macaws are extremely loud.  Sing loud.  

OSTRICH

Ostriches stick their heads in the sand.  Sing with your eyes closed.

OWL

Sing "whoooo"

-or- Owls can turn their heads completely around.  Face the back of the room and sing.

PENGUIN

Penguins march together.  March and sing.

-or- Penguins can swim.  See how far you can sing in one breath.

ROADRUNNER

Sing fast.

ROBIN

Sing with a finger in your mouth like a worm.

SWAN

Sing very pretty.

TOUCAN

Toucans have long noses.  Hold your nose while you sing.

WOODPECKER

Tap the rhythm while you sing.

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Choose a small item or picture to hide somewhere in the primary room.  Have one child stand outside the door (with an adult if necessary) while another child hides the object.  Bring the child back into the primary room to look for the object.  As he or she searches, the rest of the primary sings the practice song over and over.  As he gets closer to the object, the primary sings louder.  As he gets further from the object, the primary sings more softly.   When the object has been found, choose two new children to participate and play again.
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This activity is a follow-up to the Who Sings Now review game.  You can use it as you're learning any new song, or as a review.

First, print the document at the bottom of the page.  (It is formatted for 8.5"x11" paper, but I've left it in Word format so that you can adjust if you use a different size paper)

Next, fold the pictures in half.

Finally, place a tongue depressor or paint-stirrer between the pages and glue together.

Choose a child to come to the front of the classroom and let him pick one of the signs.  Show the entire primary both sides of the sign and let each child decide which category he or she fits (most closely) into.  As you sing the song, have the child at the front of the room hold the sign up and turn it back and forth.  The side which is showing tells the children who sings!

Yes, they do point opposite directions after you fold it.

In Holland, we're doing Christmas or Sinterklaas.   I thought perhaps this would turn out rather one-sided in your ward :)

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First, don't forget to enter to win a custom portrait in my Etsy giveaway.

To review "A Child's Prayer," or other two part songs, print the document below, cut out the pieces and draw them from a bowl one at a time.  Have the children decide which category they fit (most closely) into and have them sing the song accordingly.  Use this activity as an opportunity to discuss that we are all different and Heavenly Father knows and loves all of us.  Don't allow the activity to turn into a competition.   

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(Note: the card representing Christ was meant specifically for use in introducing the song "If the Savior Stood Beside Me."  Please use the Spirit in deciding whether or not to use this card for any other activities.  For a note on using cartoon pictures of Christ in teaching, please visit here.)

These cards are meant to review any song.

I plan to introduce them as we learn "If the Savior Stood Beside Me."  Before we learn the song, I will have the children choose several cards, one at a time, and think about how they would act if that person were in the room with them.  What would they do?  What would they wear?  How would they feel?  What would they say?  Then I will show them the card with Jesus on it and ask the same questions.  

I'll teach the song, using the activity found here and when they know it, we will review the song using these same cards.  One at a time, I will have the children choose a card and we will sing the song as the person on the card would sing it.

On the last week of the month, I plan to do the review/understanding activity found here.

Ballerina: turn in circles while you sing.

Drummer: gently drum the beat or the rhythm on the chair in front of you while you sing

Cowgirl:  sing with a country twang.

Opera Singer:  sing with a strong vibrato, like an opera singer

Race Car Driver:  sing really fast.

Robot:  sing in monotone, like a robot voice

Diver:  Move your finger up and down over your lips while you sing, like you're under water.

Tight-rope Walker:  balance on one foot while you sing.

Soldier:  march while you sing

Jesus:  sing super reverently.

(For another set of cards, see the post here. Also, if you have ideas for other cards you'd like me to make, leave suggestions in the comments. I plan to have a second set ready in a few weeks.)

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This game is generally too difficult for the Junior Primary, so I mainly use it as filler on weeks when Senior Primary is finished learning the new song and Junior Primary still has lyrics to learn.  This gives JP time to catch up.

Sometimes if the song is short or familiar, I do try the game with Junior Primary.  Although the younger kids have a hard time keeping up, they enjoy watching me and the older kids stumble through it :)

To play the game, you simply replace all the vowel sounds in a song with long A, then E, I, O and U.  For example, if you were reviewing the song "I Am a Child of God," You would begin with the long-A verse, which would sound like this:

Aye aim a chaild aif Gaid
Aind hay hays saint may hair...

Then you would sing the long-E verse

Ee eem ee cheeld efe Geed
Eend he hees seent mee here...

Then long-I

I ime I child ive gide
Inde hi hise sinte my hire.... 

And so on.

Have fun, and if you do try the game, let us know in the comments how it went!


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The inspiration for this game comes from the song "My Bonny Lies Over the Ocean."  As a child, when we sang this song, we would stand up or sit down whenever we sang a "b" word.  (It gets fun right around the part where we start singing "bring back, bring back, oh bring back my Bonny to me.")

In the Primary version, I have the children stand or sit whenever we sing a certain word.  Then, as they do well, I add more words.  For example, if we were reviewing the song "I Am a Child of God,"  I might have the children stand up or sit down whenever they heard the word "me."  It would go something like this:

I am a child of God
And he has sent me (stand) here
Has given me (sit) an earthly home
With parents kind and dear
Lead me (stand), Guide me (sit)
Walk beside me (stand),
Help me (sit) find the way
Teach me (stand) all that I must do
To live with him some day.

The next time, we might add "he" and "him"

I am a child of God
And he (stand) has sent me (sit) here
Has given me (stand) an earthly home
With parents kind and dear
Lead me (sit), Guide me (stand)
Walk beside me (sit)
Help me (stand) find the way,
Teach me (sit) all that I must do
To live with him(stand) some day.

This game works well for songs with lots of repetition and can be used to point out the fact that we DO repeat words, phrases, concepts often because they are so important.  It is sometimes necessary to write the lyrics on the board and cross them out as they become stand-up-sit-down words, but it is often more fun without that help.
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This activity is meant to review songs with multiple verses.

The chorister calls out either a word or a theme which occurs in only one of the verses.  As an example, if we were reviewing "I Am a Child of God," I might call out the word "parents," which appears only in verse one.  Then all the children hit their fists on their open hands three times and hold up the number of the verse they think you are referencing.  Everyone sings the verse. 

As an option, I somtimes make word strips and have a child who is singing well choose the next word.  Then I can play the game with them.  My kids love when they get the answer right and I don't :). 
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I use these cute animal pictures for two things.  

1.  Singing Old Mac Donald in Nursery

2.  Learning the melody of a new song.  Before we learn the words, we sing the tune in the "language" of one or more of these animals.  For example, if the child chooses a sheep, we sing "baa, baa, baa" instead of the words.  

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I want my primary children to take their songs home and teach their families.  While we're learning a new song, I sometimes take out these family cards to help us practice.  We take turns singing the practice song as each of the family members would sing it.  

Dad sings an octave too low

Big Brother marches while he sings.

Grandpa has trouble hearing, so he sings extra loud.

The dog sings with his tongue out, as if he's panting.

Grandma can't see well, so she sings with her eyes closed.

Little Brother has a loose tooth, and sings with a lisp.

Little Sister wants to be a ballerina.  She dances as she sings.

And Mom is the leader of it all.  She leads the music while she sings.

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