CTR47
by Janelle Heath / ga04262007
 

 

This is a topic that each of the kids know backwards and forwards and it’s a hard topic to teach when you generally say the same things over and over again. So we spiced it up and made the kids teach us. 

To start with I made a camcorder out of a cereal box, empty tissue roll and tin foil.  I made it simple but flashy and wrote CTR 47 on the side of it.  (I had a real camcorder at home but this showed the kids it was pretend and not really being taped).  Then right before sharing time began, I went into the bathroom and pulled my hair into an 80’s side pony tail and put some bright and flashy make up on.  We had already set up two chairs at the front of the room for our “interviews.”  During announcements and singing but before sharing time I hid outside of the room so no one would see me or suspect what we were up to.  Our secretary was our camera woman and was quite animated too!  The president “stalled” for us so we could make a dramatic entrance by talking about baptism in a boring voice.  Then we burst into the room Hairbrush in hand (microphone) and camera man following. 

We started it off by walking and talking into the camera by saying “This is Sister Heath with CTR 47 News and we are LIVE here at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints talking to little people called primary.  The kids got a giggle out of that as I pretended that I knew NOTHING of the church OR baptism.  I then announced to the camera that I would be interviewing primary kids about their thoughts on baptism.  To start with I asked some general questions to our “audience” (the kids) and they answered. When they answered the camera woman did “close ups” of them by getting right in their face when they answered a question.  Then I called kids up one by one to do ‘personal Interviews’ and answer questions like “so what was it like when you were baptized” This threw the little ones off as they thought I was silly because they hadn’t been baptized.  I faked shocked and asked why there weren’t baptized as little babies.  I asked questions about who baptizes you and why only certain people can baptize you and why you have to be 8 years old etc.  The funny part was that our bishop’s kids were in there and I really got it going when they said my dad baptized me, and so I played on that as if only the “bishop” could baptize.  This was a fun way to talk about baptism and I was REALLY surprised at how much these kids knew, even the little ones.  By the end, we had all learned from each other and when one of the kids said I don’t know, then we opened it up for discussion or I’d clarify certain things for them off camera. If you run out of questions, spice it up by asking if they know any songs on baptism and have them sing you one.  We did this for each sharing time (junior and senior) and it was a big hit!  The older kids thought it was a bit cheesy but after a few minutes they started to play along and seemed to have a great time!