LDS Sing Along Apps

I'm loving this new sing along app, you know, follow the bouncing ball, done by LDSSingAlong.com. They did a great job. They offer a version with Hymns and one with Children's Songs. Both are available in Spanish. You can download the lite version for free to try it out. Each song has a handful of high quality background pictures to choose from and the music is from the recordings done by the church.

I taught my primary kids "I Am a Child of God" in Spanish by pointing to the words on a poster (can't believe how fast they picked it up) but boy, I wish I had this app hooked up to a big tv or projector! I'm working on getting the right chord to connect my iPad mini up to the new tv our building just got, then watch out, Primary Kids, we're going to learn all kinds of songs in Spanish!

Click on the video below to see how it works!

My Heavenly Father Loves Me

click here to download

A few years ago I came across this beautiful arrangement of My Heavenly Father Loves Me by Lyle Hadlock. He composes and arranges beautiful music, check out his website. This arrangement is for vocal, piano and flute and it's simple enough that the kids won't be confused. I love the key change and the ending, simple and perfect. And it's free. Thank you Lyle Hadlock!

When I've taught this song in the past I've used objects. See the list below. There are a couple of ways to do this.

1) Put the objects on a table. Sing the first line, have the kids repeat. Choose a child to pick the object that goes with that phrase and stand in line at the front of the room. Continue with the next line. This is great for Junior Primary.

2) Just start singing and handing out the objects as you go. Do the first four lines and then have the children sing with you and the kids holding the objects try to get themselves in order at the front of the room. Sing it again to see if they got it right. Then do the same for the rest of the verse. This is geared more toward Senior Primary.

Whenever I hear the song of a bird             stuffed animal bird
Or look at the blue, blue sky,                       blue fabric that can be waved above the head
Whenever I feel the rain on my face            small spray bottle set on mist
Or the wind as it rushes by,                         hand fan
Whenever I touch a velvet rose                   fake rose
Or walk by our lilac tree,                            fake lilac branch or just a branch  
I’m glad that I live in this beautiful world  small globe
Heav’nly Father created for me.                child pointing to himself

He gave me my eyes that I might see          glasses or child pointing to their eyes
The color of butterfly wings.                       toy butterfly
He gave me my ears that I might hear        child pointing to their ears
The magical sound of things.                      small bell or instrument
He gave me my life, my mind, my heart:     mirror
I thank him rev’rently                                 child folding arms as if praying
For all his creations, of which I’m a part.  clear container filled with small toy animals, fruit, plants, etc.
Yes, I know Heav’nly Father loves me.       paper or stuffed heart

Children of God Around the World

One of the things I felt strongly about when thinking about teaching my primary kids with "I Am a Child of God" was that if each of them is a Child of God, then that means everyone they interact with is also a Child of God and should be treated with love. So I used some International Children of God to review and learn some new songs about this. Here's what I did.

click here to download these International Kids

Preparation. Copy, color and cut out cute international kids. Use card stock for durability. I used a book from my school teaching days, but there are several online options. Edupics.com has this great artwork. Click here to download a collection of their cute kids. You can make as many kids as you think you have time for. I made 10, five girls and five boys. My download option has 12.  Also prepare a world out of blue and green paper or print this one. Make a list of songs and/or challenges. I don't assign these to the cut outs, we do the songs in my order regardless of which cut out is chosen.  The list of songs and challenges we did is below. The ones with an asterisk are new ones to my primary but I wanted them to learn them because they go so well with this theme. I did a quick "sing and repeat" and I was amazed at how quickly they picked it up! I didn't get through all of the songs but maybe we'll be able to finish next week.

click here to download

Junior: 
I Am a Child of God vs 1  p. 2
Jesus said Love Everyone  p. 61
I Am a Child of God vs 2  p. 2
*I'll Walk with You (first half) p. 140
Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam  p. 60
I Am a Child of God vs 3  p. 2
*Shine On  p. 144
I Love to See the Temple  p. 95
I Am a Child of God vs. 4  p. 2
*I'll Walk with You (second half) p. 140

Senior:
I Am a Child of God vs 1-3 p. 2  SIGNS
*I'll Walk with You (first half) p. 140
Children All Over the World p. 16
I Am a Child of God chorus p. 2  SPANISH
Jesus said Love Everyone  p. 61
*I Am a Child of God verse p. 2  SPANISH
*Feliz Cumpleanos  p. 282
I will Follow God's Plan p. 164
*I'll Walk with You (second half) p. 140
I Lived in Heaven p. 4

Presentation. Line up the International Kids along the bottom of your chalkboard a place your 'world' in the middle of the chalkboard. Like this:

Junior Primary. I called a child up to pick one of the International Kids and put it on the world, forming a circle around the world. Then we sang a song. I mentioned where the International Kid was from but we spent our time singing.

Senior Primary. We sang a song and tried to earn an International Kid to put on the world. Sometimes we had to sing a song a few times. I let the children make three guesses about where the International Kid was from. About halfway through we had a quick discussion that went like this:
Me: How are these kids different?
Children: Different hair, clothes, skin, homes, language, food etc.
Me: What do all these kids have in common? What do we have in common with them?
Children: We all have bodies, families, spirits, homes. We're all children of God. (Bingo)
Me: Which ones does Heavenly Father love and care about?
Children: All of them. All of us.
Me: So how should we treat each other?
Children: With love, nicely, with respect.

Here's what it should look like when finished.

Happy Singing Time!

VIDEO: I Am a Child of God / I Have a Savior

I just finished this video last night and I'm so excited to share it with you! 

I first sent it to Ryan Maag and asked his permission to use his song. He is happy to share it on the video and loved hearing the song again, he said it brought back special memories. The photos I used are mostly from lds.org. You can access the video on YouTube only through this link, so if you want to show it to your Primary kids, go through my website.

I hope this helps bring the Spirit into your Primary!

To purchase this version of the song go to LDSMusicNow.com and look for the 2007 EFY: Power in Purity Album and Songbook. Ryan Maag's website has a beautiful version sung by Mindy Gledhill.

Freebies at Simply Fresh Designs

I just stumbled across Simply Fresh Designs.com and saw her adorable free printables.

She has a Binder Cover with a Calendar, a Wall Calendar Template and 5"x7" I Am a Child of God subway art all available to download for free. Wonderful! Thank you Heather!

click here to follow link

The calendar template would work great to do the New Year's Resolutions Idea I've read about online. Here's the idea in a nutshell:

1. Assign a song and resolution to each month according to the monthly theme. (see below for my suggestions)
2. Post the monthly calendars around the room in random order.
3. Have a child find January. Say the name of the song and have the children come up with a good resolution to go with it. Help them out if they can't think of one. Sing the song. Repeat for the rest of the months.

January - I Am a Child of God  - Listen to/obey parents; Follow the promptings of the Spirit
February - Once there was a Snowman - Walk outside everyday
March - I Feel My Savior's Love or Jesus - Say sorry quickly; Repent daily
April - I Belong to the Church of Jesus Christ - Be ready for church on time
May - Follow the Prophet - Find out what the Prophet wants me to do (by listening to General Conference)
June - When I am Baptized - Make a new friend this year
July - Kindness Begins with Me - Serve someone in your family every day
August - A Child's Prayer - Pray every day
September - I'm Trying to be Like Jesus - Find a way to help someone every day
October -  I Hope they call me on a Mission - Pay tithing and save for a mission
November - I am Glad for Many Things - Be grateful for learning by doing your homework
December - Tell Me the Stories of Jesus - Read the scriptures every day to learn about Jesus

It's a lot of songs to get through, but it's a fun idea!

Touching Version of I Am a Child of God

Ryan Maag arranged a touching version of "I Am a Child of God" with additional words titled "I Have a Savior." I fell in love with it the first time I heard it a few years ago. You can hear a sample of the recording Mindy Gledhill did of it on his website www.ryanmaag.com and download it on itunes.com. Take a minute to read Ryan's biography and the words will mean even more.

It was included in the 2007 EFY: Power in Purity Album and Songbook. You can download the slightly more reverent version recorded by April Meservey and the sheet music at ldsmusicnow.com. (Click on "Corresponding Album" to get to the recording.) 

Last year I played this song for my Senior Primary kids and had them sing along. I printed words for "I have a Savior" on a small poster and pointed to the words when we got to them. I led them through the tricky rhythms and they did fabulous! They wanted to do it again! It definitely brought the spirit into Primary!

I am a Child of God

I just LOVE this video done by the church! You can find it on the Mormon Channel or on YouTube. I'm so excited to share it with my Primary kids to introduce "I am a Child of God" next week. On the video they sing the first verse twice and then the second verse once. We'll watch and sing along with the first verses and then stop and review/teach the 2nd verse(even my new Sunbeams know the first verse.) Then we'll finish the video while singing along.

My plan is to make a similar video with pictures (and/or video) of My Primary Children throughout the year and show it at the end of the year with a great recording of the song. I think they'll love seeing themselves in the video!