(by Allison Goodworth)
I got up in front of the children and said, "I solemnly announce that I
have some 'bad news'. They were all ears. I then proceeded to tell
them that I had called Bro.***** earlier in the week to ask him to wear an
old tie that the kids could cut up if they sang well. I told them that,
unfortunately, he had forgotten and had worn one of his very FAVORITE ties
- he chimed in with, "it's my silk tie and it's MADE IN ITALY!!!" The kids
were SO excited to cut his tie. They were ALL singing! I was thrilled.
Trust me, this just doesn't happen! We use the 'popsicle stick
method' to choose children for turns, so I had the child who had been
chosen previously stay up front to watch carefully and make sure that
whoever was chosen out of the container had been singing. It worked so
well.
(by Ally Warner) I purchased an old tie at the Goodwill here in my area and gave it to one
of our male teachers in Senior Primary. I was going to teach them the
first verse to "Dearest Children...". I had the teacher, who was wearing
the tie I purchased, come to the front of the room and asked him questions
about his tie. He played along so well. He told the group that it was one
of his favorite ties and his wife really liked it too. Well when he
finished talking about his tie, I pulled out my scissors and told the
senior primary that if I heard great singing then I would pick someone to
come up and cut a part of his tie off. They were all shocked at
first and then got very excited. The teacher acted horrified. (I should
state that there are only about 11 kids in my senior primary. I don't know
if this idea would work with a huge group or not.) I couldn't believe how
fast they learned the first verse. They all wanted a turn cutting his tie. The teacher would beg them not to sing good and then would beg the child
not to cut it. I was going to tell them at the end of the time that I
bought the tie and that it really wasn't one of his favorites, but there
is one more male teacher I might use to do it again for the second and
third verse and then I might divulge the secret.
(by Cindee Alexander) I did this one last year on Fathers
day. BIG HIT! GREAT SINGING! The child who cut off a piece got to
keep it. It was funny watching them after church carrying around the
pieces like little trophies. You could use the bishop, or a
counselor. Even a male teacher, or one of the older boys in primary
(you know the one's that don't like to sing) Even someone's dad would
be fun. Oh one other idea that has been shared here in the
past. You need a man who is bald and a good sport. The children get to
help him grow hair by singing well. The hair is pieces of curled ribbon
(the narrow kind that you can curl with the edge of your scissors). You
attach it to the volunteers head with a dab of Karo Syrup. I haven't
tried this one yet. Our ward is young, so most of the men still have
their hair.
(by Cary Miller / ga05302007) - The
chorister can invite 3-5 dads to come in and help with singing for each
Sr. and Jr. Have each dad take off their real tie and put it in their
pocket and put on a "fake" used/thrift store tie to put on before coming
into primary. Tell the kids that you're going to start with the first dad
for the first song and depending on how well they sing the song, you're
going to cut off part of his tie. As they sing, you just cut off a little
here and there starting at the bottom. Tell the dads to play into the
activity...by saying things to the kids, like, "No, don't sing loud!"
"No, don't sing nice!!" You use a different tie for each song, cutting
off a little more of the next tie than you did for the first, etc. The
last song, should be a song that they know well and sing well, so that you
can cut all the way up to the very top of the tie! (it's funny to cut off
just enough that only the knot is left!!) At the end, explain to the
kids that these were "fake" ties and that you really didn't cut their real
ties!
