Often as we near the Primary Program, I find I want to focus on teaching the kids how to project their voices. So I am building a list of fun ways to teach that concept. Usually I do these activities a few weeks to a month before the program so we can focus on projecting but also get good practice in at the same time by singing lots of songs. The first week, I tend to model how to project by singing a song really quiet with my lips barely open, and then I sing out while projecting, and I finish with shouting and talk about how we sing out but remember not to shout! Here are a few of the ideas for projecting that I have compiled so far:
Cell Phone Singing
This singing time has evolved over the years, but the kids really seem to enjoy it. My husband took a large carboard box and painted it to look like a cell phone. We used two pieces so we could fold it in half for easier storage. Then he painted little squares on the cell phone. After that, I laminated the whole thing using packing tape. And we created a moveable part on the top that represents cell service bars. You can have it show no bars or build up as they sing louder. We didn't bother laminating that part but made sure the tape wasn't too close to it so it still easily slides. Then I went and found images of church apps and printed them out. I cut them to fit over the squares he had painted. I then laminated those squares and used packing tape to attach them so they could flip up. The lamination makes it easy to adjust this singing time activity by changing out songs or whatever you want. I also had fun telling the teachers about all these fun church apps as we sang. The idea of this is that as I see children singing out, the reception goes up, and then I will stop at a class and have the teacher pick a child to flip up an app to choose the next song we will sing. The kids loved it and I can see me using this over and over again! I did create a file of all the apps in case you need them. You can access that here:
Sleeping Dad Singing
This idea has been one of the kids' favorites and I have used it several times now. I start out by telling the kids that there is a new Dad in the ward who just had his very first baby. He isn't used to being up all night and so he is feeling very tired. We want to make sure we don't sing too quiet or he might fall asleep during our musical number. So they need to make sure they sing loud enough that he stays awake the whole time. You basically create a Dad face (my husband painted mine), with a spot for the eyes. Then you paint or draw to strips of paper that have skin color on the top, a straight line to represent the eyelids and the eye ball section. My husband even ended with just white which was funny because one time we just saw the white part and I told them to be careful not to shout so he doesn't have a stroke or heart attack. You can then connect the eye strips to a tie. Then you pull on the tie to operate it. You can see above the back of the picture and how we left the eye part of the main poster to slide it through. This is also a great one to use as practicing for Father's Day!
Back to School Singing Time
I love doing a Back to School themed singing time and there are so many fun ways you can do it. This year, I chose a child and a teacher from a class that seems to be singing well. I had the child reach into the backpack to determine which song we will sing by pulling out a school supply. Then the teacher went into the hallway and stuck the sticky note with the song title next to a tape measure on the floor so we could measure how far the teacher could hear us singing. I first modeled projecting while we sang and reminded them that yelling doesn’t count. I used a different color sticky note for Junior and Senior so we could see which songs they knew well and the kids can see which group got the furthest. It was a lot of fun and actually the Junior Primary won. I used my husband's awesome 100 foot tape measure and taped it to the floor. It stretched from the Relief Society Room to the Bishop's office, so almost the whole length of the building. The whole ward was talking about it and the kids absolutely loved it! I can see myself doing this activity every year!
That's all my ideas for now, but stay tuned! I have a few more, I just need to take some pictures of them :)