You Can Call Me…

You can use the music app, Sacred Music, to provide the music for any activities or sing a cappella!

1. Pictionary song

We used a simple white board my daughter m had gotten at the Dollar Tree and we drew clues to guess the primary song. Some drew different words/phrases from the song while others drew words to represent the title. Either way worked and even our 4 year old could draw and make guesses. I did have her tell me, and I helped interpret her pictures and/or give ideas for her to draw.

2. March Madness brackets- fave Primary Song

This was given to us by our Primary Singing Time Leader when we were told we would not be attending church. We did one half of the brackets one week and the other half the following week. This was a really neat activity to see which of our family members liked certain songs. I plan to do this again with a new set of songs!

3. Learn A new song- break it down with actions

Pick a song from the primary book that your family would like to learn. To learn the song you can use hand motions as clues. Let each person take a phrase to create a motion to. Repeat phrases and motions a little at a time. Build your song longevity and do challenges on who can remember the most after 4 practices etc. Make it fun for them.

4. Random Page Number

Have a child pick a number between 1-285. Turn to that page and either listen to it or sing the song. Have everyone in the family pick a page to turn to or do more than one. You decide what works for your family.

5. Video singing and share with ward or family

Pick a song or two. Video your family/children singing the song. Then send that clip to your ward or family to make them smile. Share the spirit through your singing.

6. Make a video depicting a song

This idea was started by someone in my ward and it was the cutest video they shared with the everyone. It sparked others making videos! This family dressed up and performed Once There Was a Snowman. It was a fun project for their family to work on together. Some good family time.

7. Make a Stop Motion Video of a primary song

My family is not as “brave” or out there as others. My children didn’t want to act out the song, but instead we decided to make a stop motion video which they love doing anyways. We used LEGOS because that is another thing my family loves. We worked together to find pieces we would need for the video. It was a whole family effort and although we worked on it for more than an hour (sometimes we are perfectionists), it was an awesome afternoon. My children were beyond thrilled watching their video afterward.

Check out the video Verse 1 Nephi’s Courage.

8. Musical instruments– not piano-rhythm

Using other musical instruments you have in your home, or make up your own instruments, learn to play the melody of a song. The melody is the treble clef (top part of the music).

9. My Favorite Song

Each person in the family takes a turn picking their favorite song for the family to sing. To add more to this have the family member explain WHY this is their favorite song. It could be because it builds their testimony, gives them comfort, is fun to sing, or because they like a phrase in it. Whatever it is, have them share why they love it. Then sing the song as a family.

10. Primary Song Sort

This one requires a little bit of preparation. (I am even happy to make one for the blog if people are interested!) Choose 2 topics and pick 3-4 songs that fit in each topic. Sing the song and then sort it into one of the two topics. Index at the back of the Primary book has a list of songs in topics to help with this.

11. Object Song Guess

This one definitely requires some thought which is fun… besides it’s like an Easter Egg Hunt. (which I love) Each person is to think of a song and then find 3-5 objects that represent the song. Then others try to guess the song by looking at the objects. I highly recommend requiring they put their items away, so they are not left out. Sing their song.

12. Draw Pictures for a Song

Pick a song and draw pictures that depict the song. For example, “Give,” Said the Little Stream.” This is a fun song to draw a picture of for little kids. They can draw a hill with a stream going down it. They can add a field with lots of green grass! It would be fun to see how your different kids depict a picture.

13. Song Mash Up

Pick two songs with similar themes/topics and pick the various phrases to mash up the two songs. Add in favorite parts from each song. Play with the melodies and have fun mixing and matching the songs.

14. Learn to Conduct

On Page 301 of the Children’s Songbook, it shows how to conduct music. Learn two-beat, three-beat, four-beat and six-beat patterns! You can even just focus one learning a two-beat pattern and then pick a song two practice conducting while singing.

15. Learn a new song: Erase lyrics

Write the lyrics on a white board or on a piece of paper. Then sing the song. Then let a child pick a part to erase from the lyrics. Sing the song again and then repeat this process with a new person erasing a part. Continue this until the lyrics are all gone. 🙂