November 22, 2011

Nursery Singing Time

About 6 months ago, the Primary Presidency asked if I would be willing to go into the Nursery for 10-15 minutes each week and do singing time with the babes.  Because of the weekly primary schedule, the only time I can do it is the last 20 minutes of the block time.  But the Nursery Leaders were fine with that & so it began!  I jumped online & gleaned ideas that have been put out there.  A BIG thanks to all of you who take the time to post on your blogs!!  
In the end, this is what I came up with:

I took a big sun I'd made years ago & used it as a prop for the song "Rain is Falling All Around".  Of course, I changed the words to "Sun is shining all around".  The stars on sticks are used to "I Am Like a Star".  Prophets on a stick are used for "Follow the Prophet" chorus.  The butterfly & bee on strings are for the song "It's Autumntime".  Yes, I changed the words to "it's summertime, it's summertime with bees and butterflies.  It's summertime, it's summertime, we love to see them fly!"  The kids sway the bees/butterflies to the rhthym of the song.  They love it!  Now that it IS Autumntime, I have leaves on strings for them to use.  In a couple of weeks, I'll change those out for snowflakes & make up other words to fit the song:)  The duck glove was a FANTASTIC idea I found on another website/blog.  This was so long ago that I don't remember where I found it.  Just know that I'm a great copy cat & claim no ingenuity for this idea:)  The ducks are made of foam & wiggly eyes.  The soft garden glove was a whole whoppin' dollar at Walmart and it's my favorite color.  We sing "5 Little Ducks" while I wear the glove.  It is one of the babes favorite songs!  The bell bracelets are from last Christmas that I made for Singing Time.  We use them to "Sing a Song" changing the words to "ring, ring, ring, I like to ring. I like to ring a song, ring, ring, ring!"  We then will use them for "Do As I'm Doing", too.  The kids always end up taking their shoes off as we're singing these bell songs so that they can put the bracelets on their feet.  They think that's the best!
This is the singing time list I keep in a page protector & have taped to the inside lid of my clear box I use for just Nursery Singing Time.  I always enter the nursery singing the Gathering song, naming every child in the room as we gather in a circle for singing time.  I try to alternate between action songs and prop songs so that we have time to put the props away while engaging in the action song.  We also ALWAYS end with "I Am a Child of God" and the babes all sit down & fold their arms as we sing it.
On my Nursery Singing Time list, I have many lyrics to songs that have had the words changed for the season or even lyrics to some of the less common songs that we may sing in Nursery.  I also keep a Song list in the page protector.  Every season I change SOME of the songs we sing every week.  It is very important to be consistent, singing the same songs every week so the babes can learn them.  They learn through repetition & they don't get "bored" with it, they THRIVE on it!  But the list posted here is the one I started with & continued to do throughout the summer.  It's also great to have everything in the box so that if I need to send a sub in for me (like when we're doing Primary Program Rehearsals during Primary time in October), the sub can just go right down the list & the kids will be comfortable because the songs are familiar.

Now that it's Fall, I have changed some of the songs we sing each week.  
This is what we do:

Gathering Song-  Here We are Together (of course!)
Singing Time-  If You're Happy and You Know It (actions) all 3 verses:)
                  I Am Like a Star (star sticks)
                  Rain Is Falling All Around (umbrella I hold over their heads as we sing)
                  Jesus Wants Me For a Sunbeam (actions)
                  5 Little Ducks (duck glove)
                  Sing a Song/Ring a Song (bell bracelets)
                  Christmas Bells, pg. 54 in CS (bell bracelets) this was a new one last week!
                  I Am Glad For Many Things (ask kids what they're glad for)
                  It's Autumntime/Leaves Are Falling All Around (string leaves)
                  Once There Was a Snowman/Pumpkin (actions)
                  Stand For the Right (crocheted Bee) just hold it up when you sing Be True
                  Follow the Prophet (prophet sticks)
Closing Song(s)-Thanks To Our Father/I Am a Child of God (sit down, fold arms)


Even though I get only 10-15 minutes with these babies, it is my FAVORITE part of Sunday!  Sometimes we don't have time to sing all of the songs, but for the most part we are consistent.  I try not to have any "silent" time between songs.  I just start to sing the next song & they join in.  It seems crazy at first, but after a couple of weeks, it will flow much easier & you keep the babes' attention the whole time.  If it's a song they're not familiar with, like "Christmas Bells" that I started with them last week, just sing it 3 or 4 times & over the next couple of weeks they'll join right in.  Just sing, sing, SING!  And sing to THEM, as if they are the only ones that matter at that moment, because it's true.  





4 comments:

  1. Emily LOVES singing time in Nursery. She sings these songs during the week and we always sing "I am like a star" for FHE at her request. AND I love watching you in action. You have so much love and joy for the kids and music. Thank you!

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  2. Our Presidency used to have us go in there as well. I LOVED it! Then when those little ones became sunbeams and got to come to primary, I already had a connection with them. It is an actual calling now, but I did enjoy it while it lasted.

    http://primarymusicnotes.blogspot.com/

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  3. Thank you for your post. I am so excited to sing with the nursery littles. :-)

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  4. Thank you for your post! It is fabulous. I am so excited to work with the nursery littles and this site just made me even more excited!

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