4 Easy, Low Prep LDS Singing Time Lessons

As many of you know, I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. And in our church, each member has a “calling.” (You can learn more about callings here.) Primary is my favorite calling. I have been in different callings within primary for years, and I hope they never release me. Right now, I am in the primary presidency and, because we have a small ward, we don’t have a primary music leader. So as the presidency we take turns teaching singing time each week.

One thing that has helped me when it’s my turn to teach is having a few easy, low prep singing time ideas on my mind. I can go for these if I’m teaching last minute or my original plans aren’t going to work or if I just have limited time in the week to prep. I’ve used each of these ideas multiple times. Each one is super easy, low prep and you can easily adapt for your wards needs.

Because we have small ward, we don’t separate the junior and senior primary for singing time. Each of these ideas have worked for all ages. But you know your ward better than I do, so you know if you need to modify something to work better.

1. Mr Potato Head

This is one of our primary kids favorite lessons. They LOVE this one. And I do too. It is so easy. I have used our Mr Potato Head for 4-5 different lessons because it’s so versatile.

There is a Mr Potato Head singing time lesson that I’ve seen circling around on Pinterest and Facebook pages where you print out the pieces on big pieces of paper. And those print outs would work great. BUT I will say that our kids LOVE the more hands on of the actual potato head. The older kids are more engaged, and our younger kids just love seeing toys in primary.

Here are the different ways I use the potato heads:

• Singing Competition. This works great for program song review because you’ll be repeating often. I split the kids into two groups. We sing through a song, and whichever team sang the loudest, remembered the words, etc gets to come pick a piece to put on the potato head. I choose which side sang best, and usually ask the teachers to choose which kid comes up from the team. If you have 2 potato heads, you could have the teams compete to build their potato head first, but this also works great with one.
• Pick An Accessory: For this one, assign a song or question to each accessory. (sometimes to simplify this, I split the accessories into two groups. One group for one song, the second group to another song). Choose one child at time to pick a potato head accessory to put on the potato head. Have the primary sing the song you assigned to the piece chosen. Keep going until the potato head is full.
• Song Review: I put the potato head pieces in a basket. In another container, put papers with all the songs you need to review. I draw a paper, we sing the song, and then I pick the best singer to pick a piece for the potato head.

2. Tic Tac Toe

This is one that you can do with almost no prep. You don’t have to bring anything with you. Just draw a tic tac toe board on the whiteboard, and come up with 9 questions (one for each square). Separate the room into two teams. One team will be X’s and the other will be O’s. Have the teams take turns choosing a square on the tic tac toe board. Before they draw their x or o, have them answer a question.

For lessons like this, I base the questions off of songs that we are learning, any holidays coming up, or just fun questions to learn more about the kids. Here’s some ideas:

• How many times do we sing the word “snowman” in Once There Was A Snowman?
• What is your favorite tv show/candy/primary song?
• What do you like to do with your friends/family?

3. Jeopardy

There are tons of Jeopardy games on Pinterest that you can use. But I’ve also done this without it, and it works perfectly. This one is best if you aren’t needing to review songs, because there won’t be much singing.

Here’s what I do for Jeopardy:

1. Choose 4-5 categories. I like to choose a few focused on the Come Follow Me study, and at least one category focused on music (like a “finish that line” category).
2. For each category, choose 5-6 questions. I like to make the first few easier questions, and each category will have 1 or 2 tougher questions. Make a few extra questions for double jeopardy.
3. To set it up: I draw everything on the board, and it’s so easy! I write the categories, and the point values with different colored markers. I keep the questions written out on a separate piece of paper or on my phone. I make sure I leave plenty of room in an upper corner of the board where I can keep track of the score. You could also use construction paper and put the point value on one side and the question on the other side.
4. In primary: I separate the primary into two teams. Make sure you have a mix of older and younger kids in each team. Let each team pick a team name and get started. Have the first team choose a category and point value. Ask the question associated with the point value, and give the teams a minute to discuss the answer. If the team gets the answer right, they get the points. If they get it wrong, the other team gets a chance.

Before you try this out with your primary, here are a couple tips that have helped me make this a success. Again, this is definitely the type of game that you will have to keep your specific primary and needs in mind so modify as you need.

1. It helps our primary to have each team choose a spokesperson. They are the only one that can answer, so we don’t get everyone talking at once.
2. I don’t have the kids answer in the traditional Jeopardy way (saying “what is. . .”). Its just more confusing for the younger ones especially, and it’s more trouble than it’s worth.
3. When choosing questions, be mindful of your primary. I make one question in each category “harder,” and the rest are all questions I’m confident most of the kids will know the answer too.
4. While the teams are thinking up their answers, I like to have the pianist play a few lines of a song. Especially if we will be starting a new song soon. This is just a great chance for the kids to hear the song and become familiar with it.
5. Change the rules! I know I’ve said this a million times, but modify this for your primary kids. you know them best, and if something will work better, change it. Sometimes we do a Double Jeopardy and Final Jeopardy, and sometimes we don’t. Oftentimes I just go by how that day is going, and how much time we have.

4. Dice

Every Primary closet I’ve ever seen has had a big dice in it. It seems like for a long time, using dice in primary singing time was a go to. There’s a reason for that. It is so easy and versatile! You can have kids roll the dice to decide the song, how they sing the song, or who sings the song. If you’re learning a new song, write the words on the whiteboard. Each time you sing it through, pick one child to roll the dice. Whatever number they roll is how many words they get to erase.

I hope these ideas help you plan your upcoming singing time lessons. And be sure to also grab my LDS Primary Baptism Checklist for your Primary kids. Or leave a comment below if you need more ideas or printables for your primary.

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