Thursday, December 12, 2013

Christmas Singing Time with a Nativity Cut Out.

I found this great nativity cut-out in the LDS Media library.

Scavenger hunt, anyone?

** 12/16/13 update in red below. :) More ideas.



A few ideas for this one (first, cut out the four pictures).

Option #1. Hide the pictures around the room, but so that they are visible. Sing a Christmas song that talks about the nativity, and have the children point around the room as they sing the song. For example, if you were to sing, "Sleep, Little Jesus," then you would have the children look for and point to the baby Jesus for "Sleep, Little Jesus, Lord of the earth," then point to the shepherds for "Shepherds will come to thee ..." etc.
Update: My new chorister did a version of this activity on Sunday, but instead of having them point, she had them stand up and turn toward the picture. It was so fun to see all their bodies turn, and because the pictures were on all four walls, they turned all the way left, all the way right, all the way back - it was great participation; loved the idea!

Option #1. Hide the pieces around the room and play the hot/cold game with Christmas songs until all four pieces are found. Obviously, this is a slightly different take on the hot/cold game, so once the child has left the room, you'd have to tell the rest of the class where the item was hidden. You could always have another child hide the item after the first child leaves the room, but wrap the picture to add to the mystery of what they are actually looking for when they play this game.

Option #2. Play a matching game with these four pictures and four scriptures. This is a great way to make them think about the scriptures. When they find a match, sing a Christmas song you have associated with the picture.

Option #4. This week's lesson is about how we can prepare to live with Heavenly Father and Jesus again. To tie this into the Christmas-themed nativity, cut out the four pictures above, as well as four blank sheets of paper. The object of the activity is to build a nativity. Children choose from eight envelopes. They will either end up with a piece of the nativity, which they get to put up on the board, or they will end up with one of the four sheets of paper. If they choose a nativity piece, the class sings a Christmas song. If the class is working on a song for the Christmas program, then they sing the Christmas program song, but maybe in a fun different way (staccato, legato, etc.). If they choose one of the pieces of paper without a picture on it, then if they are working a program song, they have to answer a question about the next line of the song. If the class is not working on a program song, then if they choose the piece of paper, they have to name one thing they can do to prepare to live with Heavenly Father again. If they don't understand the question, give them an example, like, "Be kind to others."

Option #5. This week's lesson actually specifically calls out a number of songs in the primary book and is a particularly easy week to combine singing time and sharing time. You could do the same thing as #4 except behind every sheet of paper that is not a nativity, list the song from the lesson plan - I Will Follow God's Plan 164-5; Keep the Commandments, 146-7: Kindness Begins with Me, 145; 103 - When I Am Baptized. Then, ask the children after each song to explain how the song reminds us of things we can do to prepare to live with Heavenly Father again.

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