Hula Hoop

August 18, 2013
I used an idea from another chorister, but I can't remember where I found it. I used a hula hoop and a jar. The songs were printed on paper and cut into strips, then put in the jar. The kids picked out a strip of paper to choose which song.

I had another child be the hooper. The pianist had to play the song straight through without stopping, no matter what we did. We had to sing while the hula hoop was up, and stop when it dropped. Then when the child picked it up again, we had to join the song wherever the pianist was.

Worked great.

August 11, 2013
I just retaught "Holding Hands around the World." I used props for each phrase, had a child hold up the prop to remind us what to sing, then sing through the song. As they learned it, I would take away a prop (having the child sit down) and the children had to remember what the phrase was without the props.

We also reviewed the sign language for "Families Can Be Together Forever." I led into it with the action song "Do as I'm Doing," Then I said we have another action song we need to work on, and signed the first phrase without speaking to make them guess. They love guessing.

Good times.

Primary Chorister for a year. Song reviews: Sign Language, Song Scramble, and Catch the action

I've been the primary chorister for about a year now, and I intend to write down what my lessons/singing time plans are each week so I can remember what I've done.  So far, not so good. I haven't done a thing about recording them. I'm so inspired by organized women. That is not my gift.

But today, I hopefully will make some progress in recording my progress.

We are reviewing "If the Savior Stood Beside Me" and "Families can be together forever."

For "Families," we will use the sign language for "Families Can Be Together Forever," and since I taught them the sign a few weeks ago, that's an easy, no-prep review.  (If you click on the link, the song is down at the bottom of the page, and it's a video download that shows the sign language.)

For "If the Savior Stood Beside Me," I will be scrambling the flip chart I used to teach the song.

Round 1: 
I will tape the pictures under the chairs, have the children reach under their chairs, hold their picture, and when their picture/phrase is sung, they will stand and stay standing till the song is finished.

Round 2: 
Now with the kids standing,  as a group we will have to sing again to put the children/pictures in order up in front. So, as their phrase is sung, they now walk up and put themselves in order.

Round 3:
With these kids up front, I will then have everyone sing as I remove different pictures. They now have to sing it by memory. We will probably sing it two or three more times.

This could be overkill, most of them know it well enough. But it should really solidify any unsure parts.

If we have time, we will play a quick round of "Do as I'm Doing" with a game I call "Catch the Action." I will write actions on pieces of paper, roll the papers into balls, and then launch one at a time. Whoever catches it, opens the ball and reads the action--and that's our action for that round.

That should be it, not a ton of prep, hallelujah.

UPDATE:
For "Catch the Action," I actually used foam shapes, you know, the craft foam cut outs that are about 4 inches across that you find at the dollar store. I used circles, flowers, and egg shapes in different colors, wrote the action on a foam piece, and then flung the craft foam piece like a frisbee. Fun stuff.

Tangled Halloween

Why do I allow my kids to talk me into these things? REALLY!

So, last year my kids wanted to be Rapunzel and Flynn Rider from the movie Tangled. 


Alright. I check to see if I can buy them. Well, no Rapunzel dress in my dd's size and absolutely NO Flynn Rider costume anywhere!

I must attempt to make them. Ugh. I am so stupid.

 But, when I saw my dd next to Rapunzel, I was pretty thrilled. And so was she. More pics are below with an explanation of how I made the wig.

 For Flynn, I made the vest out of blue corduroy, with drawer pulls as the vest clasps and paper brads as the studs in the sleeves. Definitely not washable. The belt was off an old dress of mine. We had the satchel and pants and white shirt.  We actually snipped out pieces of my son's hair and glued it to his chin for the beard. Then filled it in with some eye liner. Add a frying pan and we are pretty close to Flynn.

 Now for Rapunzel's wig. I got two large skeins of bright yellow yarn. Gosh, I hope I can explain this. I took two kitchen chairs and placed them 180 inches apart from each other. Then I wrapped and wrapped the yarn around the chairs, back and forth, until I had unravelled each skein. So, I had a large oval of yarn stretched across our kitchen and into the family room. I then went to the center, at 90 inches and tied a strand of yarn very tightly around all the strands to create the part in the wig. Then I sewed by machine the part in the wig to the tights. Yep, girls' tights-clean, of course. I had already tied off the legs of the tights so the underwear section became the head. I cut the legs off just above the knot. I wish I had a picture. Anyway, I sewed the center of the yarn onto the knot and around the knot of the wig. Then I pulled the tights over a helmet to keep the wig still, and then plaited the braid.

 It's a 5 piece plaited braid that I had to watch over and over again until I got it. The video's here: 5 piece plaited braid.  Then I hot glued the flowers in.

 I also made the purple dress. Like I said, stupid, stupid, stupid.

 But not only did she wear it for Halloween, She also wore it to Disneyland to meet the princesses. That was priceless.