Fathers Day Song

I taught "Fathers" (CS p. 209) today. In Sacrament Meeting on Father's Day we'll sing the first verse followed by one verse of  "I am a Child of God." Because they are in different keys, I'll use the Church's Music Website to transpose; and because the keys are so far apart, I'll transpose both songs to the key of D. To teach the song I used Signs, Objects and a Motivational Activity. Here's what I did.

SIGNS:

Click on the links to see a video of how to sign each word. 

1. The father of our home leads our family
With wisdom’s light in all that’s right;
My  father’s good to me.

Chorus:

Fathers are so special with a very special love.
They watch us and protect us.
They guide us and direct us
Back to our home above. (move hands upward to the right)

I'm only teaching the first verse, but I've included the other verses in case you need them.

2. The father of our ward tends with loving care
Each member’s needs with kindly deeds;
Our bishop’s always there. (I thought 'here' worked better)

3. And now we’ll sing great praise and rev’rently recall
The Holy One who gave his Son,
The Father of us all.

The sign for an LDS bishop is different than what I could find online. So I've included a picture from the out-of-print Dictionary of Sign Language Terms book the church used to publish. It is now available to download as a PDF. Just follow the link.

OBJECTS:
I used these objects to teach the song.
TIES: for two boys to be a "Father"
FLASHLIGHT: with the word 'wisdom' taped to it for "Wisdom's Light"
CTR SHIELD: for "All that's Right"
HEART: for "Special Love"
GLASSES: for "Watch us"
SHIELD: for "Protect us"

I put a tie on two boys to be our fathers. One for the verse and the other for the chorus. The verse 'father' held the flashlight and the CTR Shield. The chorus 'father' held the heart and shield and wore the glasses.

MOTIVATIONAL ACTIVITY:
My daughter painted a 2' square cardboard cutout of a house and we used a paper die cut boy for a father. (I really like this guy on the right. Looks like he really wants to get home to his kids!) We started the father on the opposite side of the chalkboard from the house and the better we sang the closer he got to home. If we didn't know the words he moved farther away from home.

I asked the children to think of how their father is good to them. Then I picked a helper, had them share how their father is good to them and then move the paper father while we sang the song.

On Father's Day we do a fun activity to spotlight some of the fathers of Primary Children. It's similar to the Spotlight on Mothers and it's tons of fun. Details coming soon!