Jingle Bell Wreaths by
AnJanette Broderick
Assemble a snowman - Put song names on different
parts of snowman and assemble as they sing each song.
Assemble a nativity scene - Have songs on
nativity pieces, and how to sing inside gifts. Tell kids that one gift we
can give to Christ is the gift of song. One child is chosen to pick a
nativity piece, one is chosen to open a gift. Sing “chosen” song in that
“style” chosen.
Christmas Stocking - Have a stocking filled
with little tiny presents and a tag attached stating a gift that Heavenly
Father and Jesus have given to us. Also have a white stocking for Jesus and
when a child drew out a gift, they in turn had to write on a piece of paper
something they could give Jesus for Christmas and try to do throughout the
year, then they put it in the white stocking. Then the child that drew out
the tiny gift, hid it and we did the hot and cold game while singing a song.
Keep all the slips from that year still in Jesus' stocking and take them out
the next year and see how the kids did over the last year. Also passed slips
out to all of the kids so the stocking is full of gifts for Jesus from the
whole Primary.
We'll start off singing "Away in a manger" I'll
ask the children what a manger is? After talking about it, I'll pull out an
old wood crate I have and explain that a manger would have looked something
like the crate. Then I'll ask the children to help me prepare the manger for
the baby Jesus. Each child will be given a strip of yellow paper to add to the
manger. We've been working on "Could I hold the Baby" so I'll have a baby doll
wrapped in white cloth. We're going to sing "Could I hold the Baby"
while the children pass the doll around. When the piano stops the child who is
is holding the baby and that child's class will come up front with their
strips of paper to lay in the box. I'm going to say a few things about how
Jesus' birth was a gift to us from Heavenly Father. Then I'll ask the children
what kind of gift they could give to Jesus, like obeying their parents, saying
their daily prayers, reading the scriptures, keeping the Sabbath day holy etc.
When they add the paper to the box they can share their "gift". After each
child in the class has added the straw. We will start passing the baby around
again until every class has had a chance to come up front and add their paper.
Then I'll choose a reverent child to come up and place the baby in the manger.
We'll end with singing Silent Night. The past two weeks we have had our
Nursery children come in and join us for Singing Time so I hope this idea will
help them feel involved as well as giving all the children a chance to
participate. (Idea by Cindee Alexander)
Place the Bow on the Present - This idea is a
variation of the Hot/Cold game that involves teachers.
Preparation: Tape several pieces of 5"x6" paper (of various colors) at
the front of the room. These papers should be placed apart from each other,
some high, some low, etc. If you have 6 primary teachers, use 6 pieces of
paper. You will also need a blind fold and a sticky bow for each present.
Directions: Choose a teacher to come up front, blind fold them and hand
them a bow with a sticky back (I usually turn them around 3 times to get them
disoriented). Write the color of the square of paper you want the
teacher to stick the bow onto and show the children. Start the song. (I tell
the teacher in advance that they may move the bow along the wall, but may not
feel with their hands) The children sing soft when the teacher is far from the
paper and loudest when the bow is directly over the center of the paper. The
children have fun trying to get their teacher to put the bow closest to the
center of the paper. This is a great motivator for singing those sacrament
songs over and over!
Note: Instead of writing the color on a paper you could hold up a paper
of the same color, or point to the square on the wall.
True Meaning of Christmas—put small replicas of
star, the color red, Fir Tree, Bell, Candle, Gift Bow, Candy Cane, and a
Wreath in a stocking or bag. Have kids pull one out, tell them why that is
part of Christmas, sing song that emphasizes it’s true meaning for Christmas
[Click
here for more information on the true meaning of Christmas]
Assemble a Nativity—bring three extra
pieces--under the three extra pieces put the letters J-O-Y. Under the other
pieces put songs. Try to find all three letters before singing time is over.
Pass the parcel - I am wrapping my Wiseman
first, then around the Wiseman, my shepherds and around them baby Jesus and
so on. The kids will pass the gift around the room to bells or music and
wherever the music stops, that child will open the first layer of the gift.
He or she will place the nativity piece on the table and we will sing a
song. The process is done again until every piece is unwrapped and we have a
whole nativity at the front of the room.
Christmas Tree - Use a poster board of a
Christmas tree. Make all kinds of decorations for it - the decorations
had the song names and page numbers on the back, and the decoration had
something to do with the song. The children were able to choose a decoration,
but then their class had to sing the song well to put it on the tree. There
were "special" decorations for our opening, closing, and reverence songs as
well. The star was reserved for the last song we sang before Christmas -
'Silent Night' - and I let the most reverent child put it on the tree.
Make a Christmas tree - (small real one or out of
paper) and have the kids decorate it with ornaments (songs on ornaments). The
following week, put “presents” under the tree they decorated and have them
open them to find a song or questions to a song they are working on, or put
things in the presents of how to sing a song they are working on (“girls
sing,” or “you lead,” or “clap the beat,” etc.). Another idea—have them pick
an ornament and a present—one has the song, the other has how to sing it.
Name that tune - I did this at Christmas time,
and I had a big poster of a Christmas tree, and whoever guessed the right
answer got to put a decoration on the tree. The class that guessed the most
correct answers got to put the star on the tree. Because we were doing just
Christmas songs, I used the book "Our Latter-Day Hymns: the Stories and the
Messages" for most of my clues, and we stuck with the Christmas songs in the
hymnal or in the Children's Songbook.
Felt ornament - I made each child a felt
Christmas ornament. It is a heart that says "Have a song in your heart". Then
on the back of some of the ornaments will be a number. I will then see who has
#1 on the back of their ornament. They get to come up and pick an angel
ornament that I made and which has a Christmas song on the back. They can then
hang the angel on a small Christmas tree that I will bring in. I cut white
card stock in a heart shape and wrote on that. Then glued to the red felt.
Symbols of Christmas - A matching game using
symbols of Christmas and pictures of the Savior. They played it like the
memory game and once they made a match, we'd sing the Christmas song.
Manger - Put up a cut-out of a manager, and in your had have a
whole bunch of long, yellow strips of paper. Explain that the paper was the
hay for the manger and that we need to fill the manger with enough hay for
the Baby Jesus to rest on. There was the name of a Christmas song from the
Hymnal and the Children's Songbook on each piece of hay. The children who
were reverent got to choose a piece of hay and then put it on the manger. At
the end of Singing Time, the most-reverent child was called upon to put the
cut-out of the baby Jesus on top of the hay.
Bring a Nativity set to Primary - On the bottom
of each piece, tape a slip of paper with either the title of a Christmas
hymn/Primary song or a question about Christmas written on it. You might use
some of the following questions:
a.. What city were Mary and Joseph traveling to when it was time for Baby
Jesus to be born? (Bethlehem. Luke 2:4-6)
b.. When Jesus was born, where was He laid? (In a manger. Luke 2:7)
c.. What happened to the shepherds who were watching their flocks near
Bethlehem? (An angel of the Lord came and declared the glad tidings. Luke
2:8-10)
d.. What did the multitude of heavenly hosts say to the shepherds? ("Glory to
God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." Luke 2:13-14)
e.. Why did Joseph name the baby Jesus? (An angel revealed it to Joseph. Matt.
1:20-21)
f.. Whom did the Wise Men visit before going to Bethlehem and finding Jesus?
(King Herod. Matt. 2:1-3)
g.. What gifts did the Wise Men bring Jesus? (Gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
Matt. 2:11)
h.. Why didn't the Wise Men return to King Herod to tell him where Jesus was?
(They were warned in a dream to not return. Matt. 2:12)
i.. What was Joseph told to do after the visit of the Wise Men, and why? (He
was told to flee to Egypt because Herod would try to kill Jesus. Matt. 2:13)
j.. What happened to all of the little children in and near Bethlehem two
years old and under when King Herod found out that the Wise Men were not
coming back? (They were killed. Matt. 2:16)
