Easter Sunday: Easter-Themed Song Review Game AAAANDDD a New Mother's Day Song

For Easter Sunday, the Primary Presidency has given me their regular teaching time to use for music in addition to my regular time. You could easily use this in a 20-minute lesson or a 35-minute lesson though.

I have three objectives:

1. Focus on Easter, our Savior, and the resurrection

2. Begin work on one of our Mother's Day songs

3. Review all the program songs to date

Honestly, I feel we know our three songs well now, and I personally need more variety, let alone the primary children. Also, I need more time to teach the children two extra songs for Mother's Day next month so I'm most interested in #2, but I want to do it in a way that very respectfully focuses the children on #1. So with that said:

Attention activity: A jar full of eggs

Children will reach into a jar for a plastic egg. The egg will either have a song/activity or a very specific Easter scripture, quote, or story.

What's in the eggs: (either a song + activity OR a quote/scripture/question about Easter)

What	Activity
Sing "If the Savior Stood Beside Me"	I have two versions here because I didn't have a chance to do version #1 the previous Sunday. I made a second suggestion in case you want to follow this plan but already did #1 last week or the week before. 1. Stand in a big circle around the room and have each person say or sing (depending on their comfort level) the next word of the song. If they can’t do it, then you go around and tell them the word they have to remember. This is a nice way to reinforce lyrics in every child’s mind in a subtle, fun way because they will be paying attention to each other’s words, even if they are not thinking about it. I expect my primary children to have little difficulty with this activity by now but it will be a nice way to test them out, make them think, and help to reinforce. - or - 2. Sing this song with crescendo and decrescendo, waving your arms "big" make them go louder and more softly to make them sing more "softly." It's fun to hear their volume go up and down especially when you do this in places where it would naturally sound good in the song to add more emphasis. Or sing the song in staccato.
Sing "My Heavenly Father Loves Me"	Pass out Popsicle stick images for the song and have children hold them up when they hear their line of the song. This is from a previous activity (scroll down to #5 here).
Sing "I Am a Child of God"	Sign Language – roll a dice to see which class will come up to sign a verse of the song. If your class doesn't know the song in sing language then have them sing the song in a different, interesting way. This is a very reverent song so I might even turn off the lights, tell them to close their eyes, and think about what it means to be a child of Heavenly Father while they sing the song.
Sing "He Sent His Son" (Great Easter song. The children know this one since I taught it last year for the Christmas program. If they don't, you can use a flip chart ... which I have but I haven't uploaded it anywhere yet so for now, if you want it, send me your email address. I mentioned it in this post.)	Sing by color – take turns either standing and singing or everyone sings but people have to stand when their color goes up.  This was from another activity I didn't end up doing that Sunday. If I had, I would switch to using a boy drawing and a girl drawing and just having them alternate between singing as boys, girls, or everyone.
Start Learning "I Think the World is Glorious"	I am teaching this song for Mother's Day so the first time I'll: Sing the song and ask the children to raise their hand if they recognize, and also to listen carefully to what word is sung the most. See post
Start Learning "I Think the World is Glorious"	The second time I'll: (if there's time) Put up pictures that show: the world, birds, bees, blossoms, a child singing, and other fun objects. Ask the children to watch the picture carefully and look for the ones that are illustrated in the song. See post
Start Learning "I Think the World is Glorious"	The third time I'll: Sing the song one time through first, and ask the children to get up and spin one time every time they hear the word “sing.” I was going to have them get up one row at a time and say "I Sing" but our guest teacher did the exact thing I was planning last Sunday so I am considering having them spin one row at a time instead of singing louder and louder just so they don't feel like they are doing the same thing too soon. OR, I might ask them if they remember what they did with "Shine On," getting louder, and louder, and tell them we are going to do the same thing, except they stand instead of making big arcs with their hands. See post
Haircut activity	I decided not to do this part this time but it's cute enough to share. I was originally going to have the child that picked this egg come up and give a grass egg a haircut, based on this inspiring post from iheartprimarymusic.blogspot.com. Then, I decided to make dolls out of yarn and toilet paper rolls, to have the children give the yarn dolls haircuts instead. I thought this was an original idea but of course, when I Googled it, someone else had already made one, and it was perfect. So Google it if you need help making this from household items :) Then, I decided this was such a fun activity that I didn't want the children who didn't get to do it to feel bad, plus I didn't want the Sunbeams to go home and give themselves ugly haircuts as a result of their primary activity. SO ... I think it's a fabulous idea and I might do it another year but I decided to go with something a little less stressful. The fabulous idea from the iheartmusic blogger ends with this scripture that I am almost certainly going to incorporate into the lesson on Sunday. Alma 40:23  The soul shall be restored to the body, and the body to the soul; yea, and every limb and joint shall be restored to its body; yea, even a hair of the head shall not be lost; but all things shall be restored to their proper and perfect frame."	Green

Easter egg scripture	Everyone look up this scripture:  Alma 40:23. Person who chose the egg can pick someone that has their hand raised to read it. Then ask what the scripture means.
Easter egg scripture	Person who chose the egg can pick someone that has their hand raised to read it. Then ask what the scripture means.  Everyone look up this scripture: Luke 24:5-7 5And as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead? 6He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee, 7Saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.
Easter egg quote	I thought this one was especially appropriate because of the themes I have been touching around “My Heavenly Father Loves Me” about how nature shows us how God loves us: "Contemplating the wonder of the Atonement wrought in behalf of all mankind, the Prophet Joseph Smith declared in words descriptive and beautiful: “Let the mountains shout for joy, and all ye valleys cry aloud; and all ye seas and dry lands tell the wonders of your Eternal King! And ye rivers, and brooks, and rills, flow down with gladness. Let the woods and all the trees of the field praise the Lord; and ye solid rocks weep for joy! And let the sun, moon, and the morning stars sing together, and let all the sons of God shout for joy! And let the eternal creations declare his name forever and ever! And again I say, how glorious is the voice we hear from heaven, proclaiming in our ears, glory, and salvation, and honor, and immortality, and eternal life; kingdoms, principalities, and powers!” (D&C 128:23)." - This Glorious Easter Morn, April 1996
Easter egg quote	This is Easter morning. This is the Lord’s day, when we celebrate the greatest victory of all time, the victory over death. Those who hated Jesus thought they had put an end to Him forever when the cruel spikes pierced His quivering flesh and the cross was raised on Calvary. But this was the Son of God, with whose power they did not reckon. Through His death came the Resurrection and the assurance of eternal life. ... He is our King, our Lord, our Master, the living Christ, who stands on the right hand of His Father. ... He lives ... the living Son of the living God. Of this we bear solemn testimony this day of rejoicing, this Easter morning, when we commemorate the miracle of the empty tomb, in the name of Him who rose from the dead, even the Lord Jesus Christ, amen. President Gordon B. Hinckley, - This Glorious Easter Morn, April 1996 (This was a deep cut as there were many paragraphs between the first part of the quote and the second - you should read the whole thing before primary! It's a great way to get in the right frame of mind to teach through music on Easter Sunday.
Easter fact	In Russia people often greet one another on Easter by saying, “Jesus is risen.” The other person replies, “Truly, He is risen.” In Albania the tradition is similar; they click red egg rocks together and say, “Christ is risen.” Ensign, March 2013
Easter egg question	Q: What does the Easter egg represent? A: The egg has become an almost universal symbol of Easter to represent the Savior’s breaking the bands of death through His Resurrection. Thus coloring and hiding eggs for an Easter egg hunt and giving Easter baskets are common traditions around the world. Creating Christ-Centered Easter Traditions, Ensign, March 2013

I decided to save this one for a future year:

Make each child this book as an Easter Present – Plan of Salvation from Friend 2005.

http://www.lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?hideNav=1&locale=0&sourceId=c2b79f161371c010VgnVCM1000004d82620a____&vgnextoid=21bc9fbee98db010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD

... since last Easter, I gave each child this book that I had made: I Think When I Hear that Sweet Story flip book.

I may still do this one:

Pass out these "Children of God" that I made last year and never gave out.

I could put them in Easter eggs and talk about the atonement and how we are all Children of God. I haven't used these yet because there are so many ways to incorporate them into an activity that I keep holding back on just giving them as a gift, when I can use them as part of the activity. I may still do that for an upcoming song.

I want to end with my testimony of the power of the atonement.

I am so grateful for a Father in Heaven who loves me so much that he sent his only Begotten Son to earth to die for us, that we might live with him again. I know that no matter what happens to us while we are on earth, our Heavenly Father loves us and is watching over us, and has provided a way for us to return to him and to our perfect bodies.