Marce Wilkin
Peachtree City ward in Georgia
I have been asked to fill in for singing time for the Junior primary and with the Olympics going on we used this as our theme for rewarding good singers.
We had just learned a new song and so I had the other Primary presidency members be the judges and pick out the three singers that were singing and looking at me and just doing a great job. They got to come up to the front where I had three different heights of footstools and they stood on them and I had some medals that I borrowed from my daughter (that she had won in Gymnastics) and I put them around their neck and said congratulations and they got to stand there while the rest of the kids sang a fun primary song to them. They got to wear the medals during the rest of singing time and sharing time and then they gave them back. They really liked this and I told the kids we would do some more next week so that more kids could wear the medals and be recognized.
Also, to learn the new song I went to an education supply store in town and bought large multi-colored smiley faces and had them laminated and then I put them on Popsicle sticks. I asked the children who had their singing voices with them and gave them a smiley face to hold. (Of course, they all had their singing voices with them after they saw the smiley faces). As we learned the song I had the kids with blue and red smiley faces stand and sing one line, and then the pink and yellow stand and sing the next line, etc. Also, we divided the room into two groups and took turns singing and the half that wasn’t singing got to decide if they sang good and they would hold up their smiley faces as a thumbs up. The kids loved having something to hold and they had to pay attention to see if it was their turn to do something.