Fun Singing Time

Being a 5th Sunday and since the children worked so hard all month on If I Listen With My Heart, this will be a more relaxed, fun activity week.

Date:  January 31, 2016

Opening Song: Search, Ponder, Pray p. 109 CS  (also have this for Ooh and Aah prelude)

Talk, Scripture, Theme, etc.

Visitor Song: Hello Song p.260 CS

Birthday Song: Your Happy Birthday p.283 CS

Singing Time

There are a lot of games like this one on Pinterest and I read a lot before making my own.  I've never done this activity before, and my primary children can be a little rambunctious so I'm a little nervous to see how this goes.  My back-up plan is to practice singing I love to See the Temple in Russian, or bring some flip charts for future songs to get a head start on them.  But a lot of posts said this is a "no-fail" activity, so I'm crossing my fingers.  

Materials:
*Ooh and Aah sign (for prelude)
*Plastic cups (I used 12)
*Elmer's Glue
*Rubber bands (as many as you have cups)
*Tissue Paper
*Foam Board (You can use poster board as well)
*Cards that have different ways to sing. I printed mine from this great blog: Primary Singing Time Ideas

On the back of each card (I only used 12) I wrote down the songs and page numbers of ones that would work good with each category:

Plug Your Nose:  I Hope They Call Me on a Mission p.169, You've Had a Birthday p.285

Eyes Wide Open:  He Sent His Son p.34, I Love to See the Temple p.95, The Oxcart p.219

One Big Breath: Listen, Listen p.107, The 1st Article of Faith p.122, When We're Helping p.198, Fun to Do p.253

Stop/Go:  Tell Me the Stories of Jesus p.57, Called to Serve p.174, Give, Said the Little Stream p.236

Stomp to the Rhythm: The Church of Jesus Christ p.77, Follow the Prophet p.110, The Iron Rod p.274 HYMNS, We'll Bring the World His Truth p.172

Lights Out:  A Child's Prayer p.12, Stars Were Gleaming p.37, I Am Like a Star p.163

Every Other Word: Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam p.60, Hello Song p.260

Sticky Arms & Legs: I Need My Heavenly Father p.18, To Think About Jesus p.71

Sing Backwards: Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes p.275, Once There Was a Snowman p.249, Wise Man, Foolish Man p.281

Hold Your Tongue:  Rain is Falling All Around p.241, We're All Together Again p.259

A Capella:  Love One Another p.136, Popcorn Popping p.242, Do As I'm Doing p.276

Eyes Shut: I am a Child of God p.2, Faith p.96, If You're Happy p.266

How to Make the Punch Board

To make the cups evenly spaced on the board, with room at the top for the Title, I drew a graph on the back of the foam board with 3 evenly spaced marks length wise and 4 evenly spaced marks width wise. Then I punched a pencil hole where the lines met, so I could know where to glue the cup on the other side.

I traced each cup on the hole prick so I could glue it centered.  My see-through cups came in handy.  Good thing I saved them from Christmas time :-)

I glued the bottom of the cups down with Elmer's Glue.  Look at that cute little foot! :-)  The kids were great little helpers...actually, I ended up waiting for nap time to finish.

While the cups were drying, I cut the tissue paper (also saved from Christmas) into circles.  One Pinterest post said this makes it look neater.

After you put the cards with the different ways to sing in each of the cups, over them with tissue paper and a rubber band.

I added a title that I drew on scratch paper and glued it to the stop.  You could just write straight on the board or whatever.

My boys enjoyed testing it out.  Here's what's best:  Place it against a flat surface/wall.  Tell them to punch in the middle of the cup so they don't hit the cup and it comes off the board and you have to re-glue it...
Sometimes the tissue paper doesn't break and it gets pushed in the cup and the rubber band goes on their hand.  I figured if this happens, that'll be just fine.  The tissue tends to break better when the rubber band is really tight, but I have all different sizes of rubber bands so some I can't get tight.

Closing Song:  If I Listen With My Heart (Outline for Sharing Time 2016)

This is the punching board after Senior primary...what I thought might happen, did.  Oh well.