Teaching a Song - "Discovery Questions"

My favorite method for teaching a new song is to use questions. I call them “discovery” questions. These are questions that you ask before you sing. The children need to listen to the song to discover the answer. For instance, I would say “Listen to this song and see if you can discover one way the Holy Ghost will help us.” Then I will sing the song to them and let them answer the question. After asking two or three questions, and singing to them, I will invite them to join me in singing the answers. Soon they are ready to sing the whole song.

I like this method for a number of reasons. First, because children are naturally curious, this method works as a built-in attention getter. They want to find out the answer to the question and so will listen to the song. Also, the questions invite the participation of all the children at the same time. Everyone can listen, even the littlest ones. The question method allows the children to hear the song several times before they are expected to begin singing themselves. This is a very real help to the children. To have the pianist play the melody through once while saying the words, is a common introduction to singing a new song, but this is often not enough for the children to confidently join in. Finally, asking questions is easy and comfortable for me. There is very little preparation. As long as I know the song well, I can teach it at the drop of a hat. So I can take advantage of extra time here and there. And, because I am not juggling or timing a lot of visual aids, I can really interact with the children. I can look into their faces as I sing to them and smile and engage them in what I’m doing. This interaction seems to go a long way toward getting them to sing with me. I love visual aids and I use pictures and flipcharts often, but to introduce a song that is completely new, I usually use discovery questions.

If your primary children are trained to expect a poster or a flipchart to learn a new song, be patient while they get used to this method. It does take a little focused thinking on their part. But this focus is a good thing for everyone. One of the real benefits of asking these questions is that the children learn the process of pulling the principle out of what they hear us teach. This is an important skill. How many times do we read a scripture with the children and ask “What did that say?” This is simply the same method using the message of the songs.

This “discovery question” method is thoroughly taught in the old Primary training video “How to Teach a Song to Children” and in the shortened video clip online at lds.org. A number of examples of song presentations, using this method, are illustrated in the Sharing Time Ideas in many back issues of The Friend magazine.

A Suggestion - Singing Time File

May I offer a random suggestion? I'm sure you all write down what you are going to do each week, if only to give the pianist some idea of how to prepare. I would like to suggest that you keep these notes in a file, and that you keep the file long after you are released.

Many years ago, during one of my terms as Primary chorister, when the singing time seemed to work well, I would stick that weekly planning sheet into a file folder. Over the years, as I've been called to do singing time, whenever I was stuck for an idea I would pull out this file and thumb through it. I've taught "He Sent His Son" several times now, always referring back to the notes of how I taught it the first time, because it seemed to work so well. I just wish I had been more faithful to keep the ideas that I have done in the past. I honestly thought I would remember them.

Fun, new ideas are fabulous and we work really hard to either think of them or to find them. And sometimes it is a real experiment to implement them into a singing time. I think it is important to save these ideas -- the ones that really worked and that we enjoyed doing. Believe me, they will work again sometime down the road --maybe even sooner than you think. Children like doing the same thing again, especially if it was fun the first time!

I'm old-fashioned. I use a pencil, paper, and a real manila file folder. You may have a more modern way of doing this. One reason I created this blog is to make this "file" accessible to my daughters who might be the Primary chorister at some point. Just do it. Someday, you will be glad you did. And others may be also.

Song Presentation - "The Church of Jesus Christ"

This is one of my favorite Primary songs. I find myself humming this song more than any other just because it gets stuck in my head.

The melody phrases are all different and none of them repeat, so this makes it interesting and fun to sing. The rhythms are also interesting and varied in even and uneven beats. So it’s fun to clap or tap the rhythm for this song. The rhythms seem to emphasize the action words of KNOW, FOLLOW, BELIEVE, HONOR, DO, and PROCLAIM. Together with the melody and words, the rhythm supports the powerful, confident message that we actively commit to follow Jesus Christ. This is a testimony song!

I’m going to use a combination of questions and the action keywords to teach the song. I’ll ask the children to listen for the two things that we know and then the six things we do because we belong to the church. As they discover the answers, I’ll continue to sing and post wordstrips for the actions words (2x for KNOW and 2x for FOLLOW.) After all the wordstrips are up, I’ll help them sing it through using the keywords as a reminder. Then we’ll repeat, removing a key word each time we sing.

This song just makes you want to get up and move! I’m going to have to think of some fun movement activities to review it. Maybe a rhythm band of some kind. Do you think I could get away with it? Sofia also has some great ideas that I think will work to introduce and review the song. You might need to scroll down a little way.

Song Review -Color Cube

This is another way to randomly choose who will sing in order to review a song several times. Roll the cube and those children who are wearing the colors shown on top of the cube should sing. I've made a new cube with two colors showing because the group I'm now working with is quite small. No one really likes to sing alone, so I tried to use neutral colors on all sides. This maximizes the number of children singing since almost everyone wears either black, brown, white or off-white, at least in their shoes and socks!

I made this cube out of plastic canvas and yarn. I whipped the edges together and put a large bell on the inside to make the cube roll better. I could have used a large bead or stuffed the cube to make it a little heavier, but I thought a bell was just the ticket. If the cube doesn't roll effectively it might be too light in weight. Cubes need some weight to give them momentum as they roll.

Attention Getter for Singing Time - Poem

The other day I was flipping through my stack of old issues of The Friend. Maybe you'll think I'm weird, but I really like to sit down with a stack of these magazines and just thumb through them, looking for ideas for singing time. I always find something I can use. I sometimes waste quite a lot of time doing this, because I have a pretty big stack of old issues! :o) However, this time wasn't wasted because I found this lovely little poem about spring to introduce my Spring Acrostic puzzle. (see the April 2009 issue, pg. 33) It's perfect! I'll read the poem and give the children a chance to tell me what they love about spring with each of the songs we sing.

Choose and Review - Objects for "Follow the Prophet"

This last week I used several objects to represent different principles that have been emphasized by latter-day prophets. I put the objects in the pockets of my apron and assigned an appropriate review song for each object. I also used the GAK picture of the prophet that emphasized each principle. I invited a child to choose an object from a pocket and gave them and the other children a chance to guess what the principle might be. Then I showed the picture of the prophet and told what they taught us about the principle. Then we put the picture and the object on the chalkboard tray and sang the song.

• Book of Mormon - read the Book of Mormon - Benson - "I Know That My Savior Loves Me"



• veggies - plant a garden - Kimball - "Follow the Prophet"



• pencil - be smart - Hinckley - "Seek the Lord Early"



• paint brush - improve talents - Grant - "Shine On"



• popcorn - family night - Lee - "Families Can Be..."



• missionary tag - missionary work - McKay - "I Hope They Call Me..."



• hand - be of service - Monson - "A Happy Helper"



• tithing envelope - pay tithing - Snow - "Thanks to Our Father"

Singing Time Puzzle - Acrostic

Puzzles, like those typically found in the Funstuff features in The Friend Magazine, make a fun singing time for Primary. The last several days I've been working on writing down directions for the puzzles I have used for singing time. I think I may need help on technical writing! :o) Hopefully a picture really is worth a thousand words.


This puzzle is a typical acrostic, but is already written out, prepared and made easy for singing time. It seems to take so long to choose a child, invite them up, hand them chalk and let them stand there and decide on something! I just find it easier to do as much of that as I can ahead of time, so that we can sing more songs.

To create a puzzle for singing time, begin by choosing a word that describes the monthly or weekly theme, or a seasonal word, or even just a general word like "gospel". The example in the picture is SPRING, because I am so ready for spring! Next choose several words that match the puzzle word in some way. Choose one word for each letter in the puzzle word. These words should have a letter in common with the puzzle word. As you think of words, cross off the common letter in your main word. This will help you know which words you still need to come up with. Write these sub-words on a word strip, with the common letter highlighted in some way. Use a capital letter or use a different color, or both! Assign an appropriate song to sing with each word strip.


When you're ready to sing, post the word strips on the board in a column, in the order that will reveal the main word as the children turn them over. Have the children turn the word strips one at a time and then sing the song. As they turn the strip, have the children line up the colored letters to gradually reveal the main puzzle word. They can choose any word strip, just have them keep it in proper order in the column.

If you think you'd like to try this, some other examples of words that match upcoming themes are: "gospel" (tithinG, Ordinances, Service, rePent, prayEr, tempLe) "principle" (Prayer, scRiptures, faIth, repeNtance, serviCe, tIthing, baPtism, Love, obediencE) "restored" (pRayed, josEph, viSion, propheT, bOok of mormon, tRanslate, gospEl, appeareD) and "miracle" (Manna, faIth, poweR, Ask, peaCe, heaL, blEssing).

If you want to use a word that has more letters than you have time to sing songs, simply put a song on some of the word strips.

I really like to use puzzles for singing time. They are readily adapted to different themes and the kids like doing them because it seems like a game. It also makes a quick activity to prepare ahead for an emergency or to plan for a substitute. I have several more puzzles that I use and am trying to write down directions that make sense. I'll post these in upcoming weeks.