Singing Time: Song Marathon

When you need to review several songs with primary children, such as for the primary sacrament presentation, this is a good idea submitted by Maggie Williams.

Items Needed:

• Paper or cardstock
• Black marker
• Tape, Push Pins, or Magnets depending on what type of board you have
• Small Prize for each child (such as a sticker, badge, candy, etc.)

Preparation:

• Write the title (or a clue to guess the title) of each practice song on a piece of paper. Number each paper on the back. For example if you have 9 songs to practice you will have 9 pieces of paper, one for each song title on one side and a number 1 on the first, 2 on the second, etc. Hang them up on the board with the number side showing.
• Ask three people to participate as judges. Explain to them that you'd like them to judge the children's singing and give them one point on one of the following three aspects:
  • Reverence and doing what they should (such as sitting still, standing when they should, hand actions with some of the songs, etc.)
  • Appropriate volume (loud enough if they sing too quite, etc.)
  • Clearly singing the correct words.

Directions: Explain to the children how the Song Marathon works with the judging and that they have to reach a certain score for a prize at the end. Have one child pick a number and then have the children practice that song. You can have the judges sit at a small table and appear strict or tough while they listen. Then have them tell the children if they earned a point or not and let them know what they can work on and/or give them praise for the things they did well. Write the scores on the board (if it's a chalkboard) or on the paper of the song. Tallie the scores at the end and give them their prize if they reached the score, which they should as it's a good incentive to sing well!

Note: You can have one or two judges instead of three.

Find other ideas in the Singing Time category!