Singing Ideas in the February "Friend" Magazine

I found some great ideas for singing time in February's issue of The Friend. The "Armor of Righteousness" on page 17 is an obvious choice for a singing time, especially as we have a prophet theme coming in March. There are a couple of things one could do with this page. I could use the riddles as is and just write them on cards to play an easy "What Am I' guessing game, singing appropriate songs after solving each riddle.

Or, I could take it a step further and enlarge the illustration. I could make letters to match up the riddles with the illustration or, put the riddles on paper arrows to point at the proper object. I could also write riddles of objects that children use today to follow the prophet that would match these riddles in theme. For example, "John kneels by this every morning as he asks for strength and power from God." "Sarah wears this on her finger to remind her to be brave in standing up for her beliefs." "Katie uses this to sweep the floor as she willingly helps her family." I could write a riddle to match each one illustrated and set up a matching game, or just add two or three to the guessing game to help the kids discover that they can also be righteous and be used by God as were prophets of old.

The poem "The Sacrament" on page 16 is another possibility, especially if I have a little time to fill after teaching or reviewing a song. I could read the poem and show a picture of Christ and ask the children what they think about during the sacrament. Singing a song or two and thinking about the message of the song could help the children identify things they could think about. With more time, I could post the picture of the reverent girl with thought "bubbles" around her head and sing songs about Christ, gratitude or prayer songs with each bubble.

I also studied the unlikely article describing the tour of the North Visitor's Center on Temple Square. Because the theme is about prophets in March, I thought of using pictures of these prophets (and others) on the chalkboard around a picture of Christ, singing review songs that teach about Jesus or testimony and ending with "I Know That My Savior Loves Me." Or, I could use costumes and children to read these short testimonies and then sing a song. I could also put the testimonies and songs on strips of paper and then invite the children to choose them by pulling them out of the scriptures. Using pictures is maybe a little too close to the idea suggested in the outline for sharing time in March, depending on what our presidency member decides to do. Sharing time is first in our branch, so it could reinforce what the kids just learned, or I could use something other than pictures.

Remember my challenge! Look through this current issue and see what else can be found and adapted to singing time. Leave a comment and let me know what you find.