What’s not to like about April? Warmer weather, General Conference, Easter (most years, anyway) and my birthday! Now I have another reason to love April – the suggested songs for Primary are short and sweet – perfect for teaching a classroom of rambunctious kids. Or, since we’re still doing church pandemic-style, perfect for teaching whatever number of young’uns happen to live in your home.
Here they are:
- Jesus Has Risen For this song, print and cut out a picture of the Savior for each child. You can use this printable (6 to a page). As you sing through the song, raise the picture up each time the Savior is referenced. To “shake” things up a little bit, fill a plastic Easter egg with beans or rice, seal it up, and shake the egg each time the Savior is referenced. The song’s message is simple and this exercise will reinforce the central importance of Jesus Christ in our lives. (Modified slightly from a lesson on Camille’s Primary Ideas).
- I Want to Be a Missionary Now Do you remember when we used these directional signs as we learned the first verse of this song during virtual singing time in February? Dig them out and use them again with your families to learn the second and third verses. You can also watch this sing-along video to help you.
- Jesus Said Love Everyone Let’s learn a bit of sign language to go along with the words of this sweet song. Check out this video to help you learn it!
Feel free to take the time to learn Joseph Smith’s First Prayer in your home over the course of this year. Whether our Primary Program is virtual or in-person, I plan to include this beautiful hymn in some way. You can use the storybook you received in January’s singing time packet.
During virtual singing time a couple of months ago, we used our five senses to imagine what it must have been like that spring day – sun shining, birds singing, bees humming in a shady woodland. That helped us learn the first verse of the song.
I also have this printable to help learn the second verse. It talks about some of the feelings young Joseph had as he prayed vocally for the first time.
And here’s a video I created for learning the third verse. Grab a pair of glasses (or wait for the ones you’ll get in this month’s singing time packet) and try to imagine what Joseph saw as he spoke with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.