Rockstar Awards

Each week I hang on the board out front, my incentive - the Rockstar Awards.  Growing up, I had a fantastic Singing Time Leader (oh boy do I wish I could live up to how amazing she was.... Sister Van Egdom, you are my hero!).  Every week she gave out a singing award at the end of singing time.  Naturally when I was called, before I even started working out my first singing time plan, I made my singing time awards.  I chose Rockstar, because I have a rubber stand that says it!  I explained to them that Rockstar (in Primary), doesn't mean singing the loudest or silliest.  What it meant was who sung the best, put in the most effort, followed instructions, etc etc.  Every couple of weeks I sit down and come up with a few designs, and then make 4-5 of each design.  That way they last me a couple of months. 

They work a TREAT for motivating the kids to show good behaviour.  The senior boys like to take on the challenge to impress me... they have even started sitting in the front row.. astonishing I know.  I am very careful who I give the award out to each week (1 senior & 1 junior each week).  I have a list of all the kids, and I write down the date they receive the award.  Once everyone has received the award once, then I start the list again to make it fair on all.  It would be impossible to pre-choose my Rockstar before church each week, so I have a sticky note with a couple of names of those who could potentially receive the award and watch those 4-5 kids on that particular Sunday and pick from one of those to give the award to. 

Here's a few I've made (I really need to photograph these more)....

I also made some robot ones but forgot to take photos of them.  I kept the template I used to make them so will make them up again.  All the kids LOVE the guitar ones, I do them in all sorts of colours.  The girls got upset that the guitar was always boys colours, so they asked if I could make a pink guitar.  How could I not! Even the boys choose the pink guitar to be funny some weeks and wear it proudly.  They're easy and quick to make so it's worth the time for the result I get out of them.

Good luck..

Christy.

Marble Chance

This is the kids favourite game - the seniors especially love it.  All I did was take an egg carton, and made a cover for it (see pictures), and put the name game on top.  Inside each cup I put a number.. 1 to 12.  I put in a Marble, and pick someone to shake it.  Whichever number it lands on, is the style/way we sing!  This is great for reviewing lots of songs, and it is also good for singing a newly learnt song over and over again - whatever suits your needs.  And to mix it up and make it fun, sometimes I put in two marbles.  Here is what my numbers represent:

1.   Staccato

2.   Whisper

3.   Boys Sing

4.   Opera

5.   Closed Mouth

6.   Monster

7.   Standing Up

8.   Cowboy

9.   Open Mouth

10. Eyes Closed

11. Girls Sing

12. Flamingo

Some of the favourites to get are: girls & boys singing (naturally), cowboy, opera and staccato.  Not so favourites are monster (surprisingly) whisper & standing up.  I will probably change them around soon!

Good luck out there...

Christy

Object Pick

Really easy simple review activity.  Gather a bunch of random objects from around your home.  Print off the names of songs you need to review and stick them to the bottom of the objects.  Choose someone to come out and pick their favourite object, and sing that song until they sing it perfectly.  This is great for when it gets to Saturday night and you still have no idea what you are going to do the next day!! Thankfully I've only had to resort to it once... so far.

Definition Competition

Since we now know all of our Primary Presentation songs for this year, we are having a little more fun just reviewing and going over the finer details of timing and other dynamics in our songs.  So I am forever in need of fun activities and games to play to review.  This game was great for both the seniors & the juniors.  I was able to leave the seniors to figure it out, and they even got some wrong!  With the juniors I explained each word just a little bit more.  I split the room in half and one side was girls and the other side boys - they love this.  I get the most participation when it's boys vs. girls.  Basically I put up a word which is picked from one of the songs we need to review.  And then under the word, is the real definition, and then a made up definition.  They need to pick which definition is correct.  If they guess it right, they get a point.  I also said they could have a bonus point if they could guess which song the word was from (which is pretty tricky!).  We sing the song afterwards regardless if they get it right or wrong.  Here's the songs/words/definitions I used. 


TEMPTED (I'm Trying to be Like Jesus #78)
1. To attract, or appeal strongly (right)
2. Great physical power (wrong)

PEACE (As a Child of God - theme song)
1. To procolaim publicly (wrong)
2. A state of mutual harmony (right)

TRUE (Stand for the Right #159)
1. Genuine & authentic (right)
2. A false statement with intent to deceive (wrong)

PONDER (When I am Baptised #103)
1. To consider deeply (right)
2. To meel movedm or feel tenderness (wrong)

SHINING (I am like a Star #163)
1. To cast a shadow (wrong)
2. Radiant, gleaming, resplendent (right)

HOPE (I Hope they Call me on a Mission #169)
1. To be uncertain (wrong)
2. A feeling that events will turn out for the best (right)

VELVET (My Heavenly Father Loves Me #228)
1. Soft textured fabric (right)
2. A feeling of happiness and joy (wrong)

SYMBOL (Our Primary Colours #258)
1. An object representing something (right)
2. To go from one place to another (wrong)

HAPPY (Feliz Cumpleanos #282)
1. Delighted, pleased, glad (right)
2. Affected by grief (wrong)

SACRED (I Love to see the Temple #95)
1. Dedicated to a religious purpose (right)
2. The emotion of great delight (wrong)


They really loved this game.  I gave the boys the word velvet and all the girls were absolutely dying with laughter cause they all know what it was, and the boys got it wrong!! This game could be suited for any songs you want to review.

Keep the Beat

This is an activity for the Seniors.  It's tricky, and even the teachers and I struggled with it.  BUT, we all know how much the older boys hate singing time, so the more challenging the activities/games are, the more participation I get from them. 

Last week we were learning the third verse to Nephi's Courage for the Primary Presentation.  I chose 4 kids to come up the front.  Each of them needed to come up with 2 actions each.  Now, there are 4 lines per verse.  Each of the kids got a line each, to do their actions, to the beat. 

Here's what we did:

The Lord gives us commandments and asks us to obey (clap clap/leg slap leg slap x2)
Sometimes I am tempted to choose another way (stomp stomp/face slap face slap x2)
When I'm discouraged and think I cannot try (shake hand shake hand/clap clap x2)
I will be courageous, and I will reply (clap clap/click click x2)

We continued to keep the beat into the chorus aswell - using the same actions.  It took us a good 4 times through to start to get the hang of it, but they were all laughing and trying REALLY hard to remember the actions and the words.  I am doing it again with them this week to see if they can get the hang of it better.

Broccoli Game

This game is really great for the Juniors.  We have a really small Primary, and there are only 14 Juniors, if they all come.  They always love to play this game and it means we get to sing whatever song we need to practise or learn over and over again - and they don't seem to mind! 

It's called the 'Broccoli Game' because I have a plastic food set and randomly picked a piece of broccoli out the first week we played it.  The piece of broccoli has remained in my Primary bag and the kids are familiar with it.  They think it's hilarious because they all think broccoli is disgusting. 

It's a really simple game.  I choose two kids to help.  One is the hider and the other is the finder.  The finder steps outside the room with one of the teachers.  The hider then hides the broccoli somewhere in the room, and sits back down.  The finder is then called back in.  We sing whatever song we are learning, or practising while they find the broccoli.  When the finder is far away from the  broccoli, we all sing really quiet, as they get closer we sing a little louder, and when they are really close we sing really loud.  The broccoli is usually found by the time we finish singing our song.  The Sunbeams are always jumping in excitement when the finder gets close. 

You can use any object for this game!