Wooden Spoon Puppets

These are the wooden spoon puppets I painted to go along with “Nephi’s Courage.” I think they turned out pretty well and they were certainly some of the easiest puppets I’ve made! At first, I didn’t like the way the acrylic paint looked on the wood. It seemed too fresh somehow and very unpolished. I am not that great of an artist, as you can tell, and that was another factor. Childish looking could be good, since I work with children, but the perfectionist in me was not satisfied. After some mild fussing and fretting and thinking about it, I took some fine sandpaper and sanded them. I immediately liked the result, since it softened the paint and made it look more like an old child’s toy - one that was used and loved. The effect is much better, I think.

I’m using these wooden spoon puppets this week for another review of the first and second verses. I made three of each character so that each child could hold one of the characters. Two or three more children can hold a simple picture of a boat during the second verse. (Yes, currently, our primary is that small!) I plan to review the song a few times, asking the children to hold up the puppets when we sing about their character. If there is time, I'm also planning to use the puppets as I would pictures for “Pull A Picture.” I’ll invite a child to hide with the puppets behind a small cardboard box screen. They can choose one of the puppet characters and slowly lift it up. The other children should raise their hands or stand when they recognize the phrase that puppet belongs to. Then we’ll sing the phrase together. I’ll challenge the children not to name the puppet, but to recognize and say or sing the phrase from the song. Remember that all the characters, except Laban will have more than one phrase. You may need to help the children remember additional phrases for the characters.

 

In a future review, I could draw the outline of a boat on one end of the chalkboard near the tray, then line the puppets up on the other end of the tray. We could sing each phrase of the song in turn and when the children can sing the phrase perfectly, a puppet could be moved into the boat. When all the puppets are in the boat, the song is ready to sail. (See “Know It By Heart.”)

We had such fun last week with our dramatization. Sharing time was VERY short, because our president went home sick. So I had most of the time for singing and that was a good thing. We reviewed both the first and second verses of "Nephi's Courage" and the kids just had a ball with the costumes and actions.

Teaching a Song - “Nephi’s Courage”

Our older kids know this song and they just need a review. But, I also have three little Sunbeams in our combined group that don’t know the song at all. I have a couple of special children as well, and they really need to be involved somehow during singing time. This can be a particular challenge and I’m always trying to think how to include everyone.

Because of the narrative nature of the song, my plan is to start with the 5 W's this week to help the older children focus their attention as we sing through the song a couple of times. Then I will use the older children in a dramatization along with actions to help me teach the song to the little ones. I happen to have some quick costumes that the children can use and these make dramatizing the song even more fun. Using even simple headbands, belts or props provokes just enough imagination to help the children get into character. The narrative aspect of “Nephi’s Courage” makes it perfect for dramatization.

I also have some puppets that would be fun to use to teach “Nephi’s Courage.” Have you ever seen simple puppets made from wooden spoons? If I can manage it, I’m planning to make wooden spoon puppets to represent Nephi, Laman and Lemuel and the wicked Laban. (Mainly because I'm reluctant to turn over my other puppets to the children!) Then we’ll have a simple singing puppet show to dramatize the second verse to the song. Because my group is sooooo small right now, taking turns with the puppets will allow me to sing the verse several times. Using this younger scripture figure and this older scripture figure puppet template at lds.org (or these puppets or these illustrations) would allow one to create several puppets for each character so that each child would have a puppet to use during the song. Switching puppets would allow further opportunities to repeat the singing.

Link - A Special Easter Egg

Eggs! Some of you might have prepared some variation of a singing time using plastic Easter eggs. Because I need something truly simple this week, I am (probably) using plastic eggs and "Titles and Tricks". But I am posting this week because I wanted to share a wonderful link to another post that touched me. Our loving Heavenly Father knows and blesses each of us, according to our need and as we are open to his ministering.

Just like most, I sometimes wonder if my own efforts are meaningful or even useful, considering the enormous need to build the Kingdom around the world. I've been feeling especially discouraged about how attendance in our own little primary has shrunk to almost nothing right at the moment. But, I was recently mining the depths of the labels of one of my favorite blogs when I read Michele's post about One Tiny Gift. I knew I wanted to share it with those that I love this Easter weekend. If you have read my philosophical posts, you know that her testimony is my testimony as well. That small efforts combine to bring about the purpose of God. That Jesus Christ loves and appreciates all who bring even one tiny gift, to make His kingdom -even the world, better and brighter. Thank you, Michele for such a lovely reminder of this truth. A Blessed Easter to all of you.

Using Pictures from the Friend Magazine

Regarding the last post and using pictures from the Friend magazine, Becky said...

"I love this idea and can't wait to use it. But, every time I try to find an image on lds.org in the Friend magazines, I get only the accompanying story or activity. Can you tell me how to find these great pictures?"

I thought I would do a separate post so that more people could see the answer to this question.

In you click on the menu at lds.org and then click on magazines, you'll see a button for the Friend magazine. Once you click on the magazines button, look on the left sidebar for "other issues."  You can choose from all the magazines available on the site, including the current issue. When the page opens for the year and month you've chosen, you have text that shows the contents of the magazine. At the top of the contents list is the large month title. To the right of this title is a choice to either "listen" or to "download." You want to click on download and then choose text. This will download the whole magazine in a pdf file that you can save to your own computer. If you choose individual stories or features from the contents list, you can only download that particular feature, but if you are careful to choose the top button, you will get the whole magazine.

I hope that explanation helps you access the fabulous pdfs from the back issues of the Friend. I love the Friend magazine and truly appreciate the effort the church puts into this great resource for our children. And, I love how it helps me be a better Primary chorister!

Choose and Review - CTR Picture Study

This choose and review is a “Picture Study” about making choices. When I searched the blog to link to the post that describes picture study on my master list, I couldn't find a separate post. Maybe I've described it somewhere, but just in case I haven't, here's the scoop. Picture Study encourages the children to study a picture and come to a conclusion about what is happening, etc. In some cases, I might post just one picture, perhaps of Joseph Smith reading the scriptures, or Jesus and the children, or one of the temples. Then I'll ask the children questions about that picture. The children study the picture and we briefly discuss what they see. Then we sing songs based on what I've chosen to emphasize about that picture.

In this case, in order to review making good choices, I’ve prepared two sets of eight pictures. (The second set is for another week. It will come in handy if I need a last minute singing time or even a substitute later in the year.) I'll post the pictures on the board and ask a child to choose one picture. They may need to identify or describe the situation to the other children and we'll briefly discuss what kind of choice needs to be made in that situation. If they get it right away we'll go on to sing the song. If they don't catch on, I’ll ask the children to listen as we sing the review song to discover what choice should be made in that situation. Then we’ll go on to the next picture. I like doing picture studies. You never know what the kids will think the children in the picture are doing or what they will notice about the picture.

Lucky for me, The Friend magazine has all sorts of these "situation" kinds of illustrations. I chose several songs to review and then went looking for an appropriate picture in the digital pdf magazines. I printed the picture directly onto white cardstock, cut out around the picture and put a magnet on the back.

Here are the songs I picked to go with these pictures.

Set 1: “Fun to Do” (Saying hello is fun to do.) “Quickly I’ll Obey” “Love One Another” “Search, Ponder, and Pray” “The Family” “I Believe in Being Honest” “Family Prayer” “Kindness Begins With Me”

Set 2: “To Think About Jesus” “Fun to Do (Making a card is fun to do.) “I’m Trying to Be Like Jesus” “Tell Me the Stories of Jesus” “Repentance” “Dare to Do Right” Quickly I’ll Obey” “Keep the Commandments”

Tip - Magnetic Tape

Okay, I may have to admit to living under a rock, but I am so excited to find magnetic tape! I have been using the thin magnets on the pictures I use to put up on the board, but some things don't really require even that much of a magnet. Lo, and behold - magnetic tape. Of course, I've seen the thicker magnetic tape strip, but this is so thin it comes in a tape dispenser and you rip it off a cutting bar. It is strong enough for one sheet of cardstock - and, it doesn't create bulk in my storage box! Hooray! I found this at Learning is Fun.

I know I promised my plans for teaching the hymn "Choose the Right," but those plans are on hold right now. However, I have scheduled a couple of posts to show you what I've been up to for Choose and Review. Look for them in the next couple of days.

Song Review - "As a Child of God"

For old times sake, I thought I would share with you all what I did to review “As a Child of God.”  I put the phrase pictures up on the board and asked a child to leave the room. I asked another child to choose one of the pictures to remove. We shuffled the remaining pictures around a bit to make it harder to spot, but if the guessing child is young, you may want to leave the pictures as they were. When the child came back into the room, we sang the song again to help them discover which picture was missing. Naturally, I asked the child to give the answer in the exact words of the song. If the children had a hard time, we sang the missing phrase together and then repeated the whole process.

The other review activity I had prepared was a “Pop Quiz” with questions about the song. The questions were written on orange slips of paper and placed in an Orange Crush bottle.  A child shook out a question and then had to answer it in the exact words of the song. Naturally, we had to sing a little to help them out. The pop quiz is just a fun way to help the children review and focus on the words of the song.

This year I have only five older kids and the rest are quite young. I think they need a little more time with our new song, before I ask them to learn a hymn. Since they already know "Stand for the Right," I'm going to trade months and teach "Choose the Right" in March. I'm currently planning a great "dramatization" to teach "Choose the Right," with kids holding props surrounding and singing to a child in the middle of the circle. I'm hoping that the mental images of acting out the song, together with the props, will help the little ones especially. I'll share when I get all the props ready. It will be too late for most of you, but I'll share anyway.