On Sunday I'm bringing my Snowman Hat to church. We still haven't had a lot of snow here, but it's perfect for an activity that illustrates the last line from our new song: "The Holy Ghost helps me to know what is right." The purpose of this activity is to make a gospel connection and to sing the song over and over. The kids won't even notice they are singing over and over because they will be anxious to have a turn, and will want to see if the next person "chooses the right!" {This activity would also be great to use with "Choose the Right," the song we are learning next month.}
Materials Needed:
A deep, dark container or hat; something that keeps the light out
A small flashlight
A handful of small, colored items
1. Place the the items in the container (do this before Singing Time so the kids don't know what's in the container.)
2. Make sure you are NOT standing directly under a light.
3. Have a child come up and ask him/her to choose a specific colored item from the container while you hold it. For example, "Braxton, please pull out the red square." They get one chance.
(They can try to look in, but if the container is solid enough they won't be able to see much. Try this at home to make sure it works.)4. Unless they are lucky, they won't pull out the right item. Ask them what would help them to choose the right item. Hopefully they answer "a light."
5. Now your handy little flashlight makes an appearance and you hold it while they try again to pull out the right item. It should be much easier this time.
6. Ask the children what the flashlight represents. The Holy Ghost, of course.
7. Now to make the connection to the song ask questions like "Do we know a song that teaches this?" "What line of the song tells us how the Holy Ghost helps us?"
8. Sing the song and look for someone showing you they want a chance to "Choose the Right" by singing their best.
Optional: Blue things mean sing the first verse, Green things the second, etc.
Because there are eight steps it might seem like this would take a lot of time, but it really doesn't. The idea is to spend most of the time singing, and to make the gospel connection.
I want to do this activity, but I don't have a snowman hat, and I can't think of a dark container to use!! Do you have any ideas?
ReplyDeleteI love this idea. I was thinking I might use one of my husband's huge dark, thick dress socks... I am still brainstorming what else might work... Black trash bag? Back pack opened up just a little?
DeleteAlso, this idea got me thinking of Choose the Right... I was already wanting to do something with finding the right path back to Heavenly Father.... I think I will try to do something similar to the flashlight idea... where we darken the room, and a child tries to find his way to the picture of Resurected Jesus. Then, I would give the child a flashlight and let them try it again and see if it is easier. (The flashlight being the Holy Ghost "lighting the way before".) This idea still needs to be fine-tuned, but I think it will be effective.
@ Aprilyn, Lisa has some good ideas. I tried a few things before I stumbled over my snowman hat. I tried a sock, but it has to be a big one so the flashlight can shine to the bottom. A small bag works if the fabric is dense enough to keep the light out. Also, when you pick objects to go in the container, use ones that don't reflect light too much. I used a metal charm and shouldn't have. Hope this helps.
DeleteI like your idea of finding the path to Heavenly Father. I'd love to hear what you end up doing! Let me know what you end up using for your "snowman hat" too!
ReplyDeleteWe Blind folded children and made a big human circle. The kids had to get through the opening after being turned a few times. Then we had the "Holy Ghost" (another child) help lead them through.
DeleteI loved your idea and decided to use it last week for sharing time and then combine it with singing time ... back and forth. Our church got cancelled because of bad weather so I'll try again this week. I plan to use one of my tall polka-dotted rain boots since I didn't have a tall snowman hat. I think the kids will love it!
ReplyDeleteThe rain boot is a great idea! Hope it goes well tomorrow! Are you in Washington by chance? My family (in two different locations in WA)had church cancelled last week, too! Hope the weather improves!
DeleteOregon, actually, and still raining here :/ I had the boot sitting on the table and, of course, it got the attention I was hoping it would. The kids tried hard to choose the right item and got the point of using the light to help them. I also wanted to mention that we started using the Birthday Basket (a variation of your Birthday Box) with instruments to be chosen and used by the Birthday child(ren). We had quite a fun little Birthday band with 2 children and 2 teachers playing along with the song. Thanks so much for the ideas!
DeleteI can just imagine the boot, glad it went so well. And I'm glad you liked the Birthday idea! Hope you dry out soon.
DeleteYou know, I have Singing Time and Sharing Time next week, so I will have to try that. I'll find something. We have small hiking backpacks that might work. I love these ideas.
ReplyDeleteI used a dark colored cinch sack for the "hat" and 3-D tetris pieces to choose.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the idea!