UPDATE:
Read below to see what I'm talking about but I just wanted to give an update that I ended up going with #2 and #5 below and it was fabulous! I had a group of children come up at a time to hold up a few lines of the flip chart in the wrong order, and then had the rest of the class put them in order. I did this in both Junior and Senior primary, that I added more parts of the flipchart for the older kids. In Senior, I had time for the rhythm game, so I had one side of the room touch their head, shoulders, knees, and then clap their hands (4/4 times) while the other side clapped to the beat of the song. This is a lot of fun so it was a great way to sing the song several times without it feeling repetitious. I swapped sides so each side could try the other part. Since there were no musical teachers in the room, I also had one of my more musical girls come up to help lead one side of the room.
I am only spending one Sunday on "Families Can Be Together Forever," although I have been including the song in opening and closing songs for the last month. Basically, I know the children already know the song or have passing familiarity with it so I made sure to sing it to go with each Sunday's lessons, but I didn't spend any time on the song because I knew I had time to focus on some other songs. However, I still want to take a Sunday and talk about the meaning of the song and make sure the kids are thinking about what they are singing so this is my one Sunday for this song, until I move onto "A Child's Prayer" next Sunday.
I didn't have time to create a flipchart of my own so I did a quick Google Search and printed the first one that popped up, which was excellent.
Now, I have several different options in mind, all of which I have done some variation of in the past:
1. Follow the suggestion that went with the flipchart and play a matching game. I like this idea, both if you're reviewing the song, or if you're teaching it for the first time, since the children will be fairly familiar with it, anyway.
2. A rhythm/clapping game. The children love the rhythm activities, so this would be a fun one to have one side clap to the beat, and one side do the rhythm, with or without rhythm band instruments.
3. Act it out. I'm tempted to assign each class a line of the song to come up and "teach" to everyone else. I've done this before with the "I Often Go Walking" mother's day song, which was way more complicated. It would be fun to have them do this with a much shorter and easier song, and not worry about props, since this song lends itself well to being creative. The children like coming up to the front so this is a nice way to give everyone an opportunity.
4. Cover the flipchart game.
5. Look for the matching picture around the room game. I will have the kids look around for the next line in the song and bring the picture up as we go until we have all the pictures at the front of the room. Or, I will have some children hold up the flipchart and have the rest of the class put the kids in the right order.
As usual, I want to educate them, so I will share what I learn about the composer, writer, circumstances of the song, etc.
Read below to see what I'm talking about but I just wanted to give an update that I ended up going with #2 and #5 below and it was fabulous! I had a group of children come up at a time to hold up a few lines of the flip chart in the wrong order, and then had the rest of the class put them in order. I did this in both Junior and Senior primary, that I added more parts of the flipchart for the older kids. In Senior, I had time for the rhythm game, so I had one side of the room touch their head, shoulders, knees, and then clap their hands (4/4 times) while the other side clapped to the beat of the song. This is a lot of fun so it was a great way to sing the song several times without it feeling repetitious. I swapped sides so each side could try the other part. Since there were no musical teachers in the room, I also had one of my more musical girls come up to help lead one side of the room.
I am only spending one Sunday on "Families Can Be Together Forever," although I have been including the song in opening and closing songs for the last month. Basically, I know the children already know the song or have passing familiarity with it so I made sure to sing it to go with each Sunday's lessons, but I didn't spend any time on the song because I knew I had time to focus on some other songs. However, I still want to take a Sunday and talk about the meaning of the song and make sure the kids are thinking about what they are singing so this is my one Sunday for this song, until I move onto "A Child's Prayer" next Sunday.
I didn't have time to create a flipchart of my own so I did a quick Google Search and printed the first one that popped up, which was excellent.
Now, I have several different options in mind, all of which I have done some variation of in the past:
1. Follow the suggestion that went with the flipchart and play a matching game. I like this idea, both if you're reviewing the song, or if you're teaching it for the first time, since the children will be fairly familiar with it, anyway.
2. A rhythm/clapping game. The children love the rhythm activities, so this would be a fun one to have one side clap to the beat, and one side do the rhythm, with or without rhythm band instruments.
3. Act it out. I'm tempted to assign each class a line of the song to come up and "teach" to everyone else. I've done this before with the "I Often Go Walking" mother's day song, which was way more complicated. It would be fun to have them do this with a much shorter and easier song, and not worry about props, since this song lends itself well to being creative. The children like coming up to the front so this is a nice way to give everyone an opportunity.
4. Cover the flipchart game.
5. Look for the matching picture around the room game. I will have the kids look around for the next line in the song and bring the picture up as we go until we have all the pictures at the front of the room. Or, I will have some children hold up the flipchart and have the rest of the class put the kids in the right order.
As usual, I want to educate them, so I will share what I learn about the composer, writer, circumstances of the song, etc.
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