"Principle Questions" Choose and Review

This review activity is designed to help the children think about the principles of the gospel taught in our Primary songs.

Use the program songs and others that you wish to review. Look at the words to the song and identify the principle you would like to reinforce. There are probably several. Choose one or two for each song. Write a question about the principle that can be answered with the words of the song. Invite a child to choose a question and read it. Have all the children listen for the answer as you sing the song together. Invite their response and then briefly discuss and testify of the principle.

The following are questions and songs that I used a few weeks ago. The picture shows how I set it up. This time I designed the questions to ask why. I wrote them on paper question marks and posted them around the head of a child. I explained to the children that the boy has many questions that we could help him answer and asked them to listen for the words of the song that would give the answer. Emphasize that you aren’t just asking for an answer to the question, but to find how the song answers the question.

“Why should we love one another as Jesus asked?” (Love One Another CS-136) “Why will Jesus guide me when I pray?” (Jesus is our Loving Friend CS-58) “Why should I live worthy to go to the temple?” (I Love to See the Temple CS-95) “Why did Jesus come as a Messiah to conquer evil and death? (I Lived in Heaven CS-4) “Why should I listen to my parents and teachers?” (I Know That My Savior Loves Me) “Why should I follow the prophet?” (Follow the Prophet CS-110) “Why did Heavenly Father send Jesus to earth?” (He Sent His Son CS-34) “Why should I pray?” (Thanks to Our Father CS-20) “Why should I be reverent in Primary?” (Reverently, Quietly CS-26) If your primary is split, you would have the opportunity to create easier questions for the Juniors.

As I mentioned in this post, the children you are working with may not be used to thinking about the songs as they sing. You’ll need to be patient and help them understand what you want them to do. If one week doesn't go well, tweak the activity and give it another chance. Teaching our children to recognize these principles is an important skill. Even the young children can learn how to do this. If you do this kind of thing often enough, the kids will become well trained. Don't hesitate to share your own thoughts and testify.

The activity is very versatile. You can use questions in a sort of random way, singing whichever songs need to be reviewed, or you can design the questions to teach a specific topic such as prayer and then review prayer songs. Or, you could use a more general theme like the happiness we find as we serve others or make right choices and then find the phrases in songs to teach this larger theme.