after being in primary for several years, i’ve learned that kids love games (and chances to participate) more than anything! and if you can turn a game into a learning tool, then it is definitely a win-win.
while practicing the songs for our primary presentation (in which they sang fabulously, btw! so proud of them!) we played a game of memory – to see if they remembered the names of the songs, and then of course to see if they could remember the words to the songs themselves once they found the matches. they had so much fun! and as an added bonus: they have to pay attention the whole time, just in case their name is called to come to the front! i had their attention!
i matched words only, but you could use pictures to represent individual words in the title or the song as a whole. also, i would suggest laminating the numbered cards (putting a piece of white paper on the back before laminating), so that they hold up to kids flipping them several times. the great thing about doing it this way is that you can keep these numbered cards in your music cupboard/bag, and when you need to put together a music time really quickly, just use a dry erase marker to write the words on the back. when you’re all done, wipe it off and it’s ready to use again next time!
and just a little tip: to make it easier for you and the pianist, try writing the song number somewhere with the title – it makes things go by a lot smoother, and the pianist doesn’t have to spend time looking up the song number. i do this with any game that we play, either by writing it with the songs when i’m prepping them, or making a list of potential songs for the pianist.
have fun! you’ll enjoy it just as much as the kids will!
These look so good and I think even I could do it!
Thanks!
Great idea and visuals!
Do by chance have the word docs to these that you could email me? I love your ideas!
Hi Michele! Thanks for your question. Unfortunately, I don’t have any right now – I just used the presentation songs for 2012, but I plan on doing 2013’s presentation songs as well as a few other fun songs in a few weeks. When I get those done I’ll have them available for download and will post them for sure!
Do you by chance have the word docs for 2013? I’d love to use this game as I was just called to be the Primary Chorister. Thank you!
Hi Emily! Great question. Unfortunately, I do not have any printables for this activity this year – considering there are a couple months where each Primary gets to pick their own song. I may, however, be able to do a printable for the songs that are the same across the board and then the “song of your choice” songs would have to be written in. Is this something you’d be interested in?
I would definitely be interested in the printables for 2013 if you are willing to share, and then I could write in the “song of choice” ones. Let me know. Thank you!
Just responded via email Kate.
Could you send me the printables for 2013 too?
Hi Nicole,
I don’t have the 2013 ones 🙁 But I will be posting the 2014 songs either in December or January. Alternately, you could make the numbered cards, put a piece of white paper on the back, and laminate them. Then you can just write in the songs on the back and re-use them every year by switching up the songs!