Music

Appropriate, beautiful music can refine, elevate, and enlarge a child’s nature.  Through music, children have the opportunity to internalize nearly every principle of the gospel.

Truth in the musical setting can play a vital role in developing a child’s testimony of gospel principles as it often teaches the heart as well as the mind on a deeper level than the word alone does.  Elder Boyd K. Packer has stated, “We are able to feel and learn very quickly through music ... some spiritual things that we would otherwise learn very slowly.” 

When you sing “I Am a Child of God,” you might feel a warm swelling inside that says, “Yes, I am.”  When you sing “I Know My Father Lives,”  you can feel the whisperings of the Spirit confirming that he does live.  Children have these feelings, too, and leaders have the wonderful opportunity of helping to identify them. Elder Dallin Oaks has said, “Our sacred music prepares us to be taught the truths of the gospel . . . we  . . . need to keep singing that we may draw ever closer to Him who has inspired sacred music and commanded that it be used to worship Him.”  (Children’s Songbook Companion p8)

We hope that you will enjoy visiting this page and that it may be of help in making your music time a time of fun and learning.  Please feel free to make any comments or email your ideas to the Stake Primary Presidency.

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GAMES FOR MUSIC TIME

Name that tune:   Ask the pianist to play the first three notes of a song.  See if the children can guess the song.  If not, play the first four notes, then the first five, and so on until the children have guessed the song.  Then sing it together.

Name that song:  Select five songs. Write one line from each song on a strip of paper and place the strips in a basket or box.  Invite one child at a time to draw out a slip and read it to the other children and then guess which song the line is from.  Accept first lines or titles.  Then sing that song.

Name that word:  Ask the pianist to play a song the children know, stopping at some point.  Have the children guess the word she stopped on.

Song Pictionary:  Invite a child to the front.  Whisper a song title in his ear.  Let hime draw a picture to represent the song.  The other children raise their hands when they think they know which song it represents.

Charades:  Divide the children into groups and let them act out songs for the rest of the children to guess.  As they guess the song they get to sing it.

Crossword Puzzles:  Create a crossword puzzle.  Ask one question per song to get the answers needed to fill in the spaces of the crossword puzzle.  As each is placed on the puzzle, sing the song it represents.

Scrambles Letters:  Scramble cut out letters or words and have older children unscramble them to complete the word or words in a song title.  E.g. “Okob fo Romonm Rotssie” ( “Book of Mormon Stories”)

Sing-a-Song Match-Up:  Have the children look at a list of songs printed on the chalkboard and try to match each song with a picture or object that represents the song.  After they have matched a song with its picture, object, or flannel board figure, invite them to sing the song it represents.

Antonyms:  The object of the game is to guess the correct song title; however, words in the title of the songs are stated in an opposite way.  Examples:

·         Labans Cowardice…………………………Nephi’s Courage

·         When I Stay Home………………..………..When I Go To Church

·         Mislead me to Run in the Dark…………....Teach Me to Walk in the Light

·         An Unhappy Person……………………….A Happy Family

We Can Write Songs:  Draw a music staff on the chalkboard.  Above the staff write “We can write songs”  Ask a child to select a cut-out note that has a song title written on it.  If the majority of the children are able to remember the song and join in the singing, invite the child to place the note on the staff (on a line or a space) beneath one of the syllables.  Repeat until all four notes are on the staff.  Have the accompanist play the melody that the children have composed and have the children sing the words “We Can Write Songs” to their melody.

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HELPFUL WEBSITES FOR PRIMARY CHORISTERS


Music (LDS.org)
Primary Singing Time
The Crazy Chorister
Divine Secrets of a Primary Chorister
Sing With Me
Singing Time Stuff
Primary Music Leader (Sugardoodle)
Primary Singing Ideas
The Ordinary Adventures of a Primary Chorister