Image courtesy creative commons license flickr.com by Lel4nd Jan. 2010
* Have ear muffs with hearts on the ear part. (You can make these easily with a regular pair and paper and tape) Invite children who are singing nicely to come to front, wear the ear muffs and lead the next verse of the song. Yes, children can lead songs!!
* Have heart stickers and put them on the inside of the children's palms. When you sing the chorus have them put their sticker by their ear like they are listening.
* Invite one child to the front to be blindfolded. We're going to focus on listening! Silently choose 5-10 volunteers to stand and sing a verse of the song. Then have them sit and see if the primary friend blindfolded could name a person who had sang the verse. Sometimes listening is tricky, sometimes easy- when it comes to Heavenly Father though, we should always listen with our heart!
* What does it mean to listen with our heart? Have a very silly picture of a heart with giant ears and legs on it. As the children learn the words to the song, take off the silly parts and turn the heart over to reveal a picture of Jesus with a smiling child. When we listen with our hearts, we are feeling the spirit. Feelings of happiness and warmth!
* Sometimes all people can do is listen with their heart. Some people don't have the ability to hear with their ears and are deaf. Think about possibly learning a verse of the song in sign language and singing in sign language for someone who can't hear.
12 comments :
I love the idea with the hearts on their palms. I have so many primary kids that maybe I'll just put hearts on my palms and have them all copy me.
Oh I forgot to add that I've been on a look out how to teach this song (that doesn't include flip charts, I'm not a huge fan) in a simple way. I'm all about simple and these are the best ideas I've come across. Thanks!
Sister Bluth-Thanks so much. I am all about simple, perhaps I'm just lazy though. It's a good possibility because today instead of going to the gym I played 2 games of scrabble. I lucked out and got 95 points for the word janitor and an all time high score of 500 something. Why do I bring this up? I don't know my friend, I don't know.
Ha ha, Scrabble is addicting! My parents gave us scrabble flash for Christmas and boy is that trouble since you play it by yourself and don't have to have someone with you.
Love these ideas!
These are such wonderful ideas! I will use them as we sing/review this song throughout the year. Thank you!
Thanks for the ideas. I just got called as the music leader for our ward and I have many questions. I would like to ask that when I try and teach a new song to the children do I make them repeat the word or always have them written out on the board?? I really don't know what would be the best way?? Any help would be appreciated!
Thanks,
Maresa
I had extra time on Sunday and used your idea for the blindfold. Actually, I didn't have a blindfold with me so I just had a child face the wall and then tapped two children at a time to stand and sing. Then I asked the first child to identify who was singing.It worked great! The children loved it as each child had a chance to both sing and listen. (we have a small group ;o)I loved it because we reviewed the first verse several more times!
Great ideas--thank you!!!
I used the ear-muff activity last Sunday, our 3rd week of singing "If I listen with my heart". The SENIOR primary had a blast. I have never heard them sing so well, literally every child was singing (because they wanted their teacher to come up and wear the goofy looking ear-muffs). THANKS!
Now I know what can really motivate the Senior kids and can make use of similar activities throughout the year.
Thanks ladies! Sister Rivera I would always sing and have them repeat singing.... words on the board aren't going to work all the time because lots of kids don't know how to read. First off, know you are going to do a great job and don't worry too much! Second, go to Kathleen's Blog
thechildrensing.blogspot.com for an excellent resource in teaching music!!
Glad to hear the activities worked well!! Thanks for sharing everyone!
I was just at Target and in their dollar spot they had a little tub of foam hearts with sticky backs. Perfect for the hearts on their hands thing! Tub has 240 hearts in it.
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