Practice: My Bonny

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.