CTR SHIELDS ON A STICK

Kids just love to do things with their hands; especially the young ones. So I’m always trying to think of ways to keep them moving and/or their hands busy.  Besides, they are less likely to be bugging their neighbor if they have to watch me in order to follow me.  Ahhhh, the things we do to trick them little ‘uns.  Kids also just looooove things on a stick; of course, mostly edible things, but as you know, it’s mighty hard to sing if their mouth is stuffed with food.  Next best thing?  A picture on a stick.  Yeah, I know, not a novel idea, but a tried and true idea that can be used in different ways in teaching music.

Every year I have made something on a stick to use here and there that coordinates with the year’s theme.  One year I took a picture of every child in the Primary, there were about 100 kids, and stuck the pictures on a stick.  The kids just loved doing activities with a “puppet” of themselves.  Oh, aren’t the children so lovably narcissistic. Last year of course, it was hearts.  This year, what else could it be for the stick . . . you guessed it—a CTR shield on a stick!

I used these to help pitch lead “As a Child of God” with the melody map.  See the previous post for a few ideas.  Next month I am going to use them to hold up whenever they hear me sing or we sing “Choose the Right” or maybe even the word “right” as well.  There are four “Choose the Right” phrases & 3 “right” words just in the first verse that they can raise their sticks to or pop up from their chairs and guess what?  Even more in the last verse.  WAHOO!

You can also use the sticks for movement with the rhythm or the beat of the music:

• Lead the music by making a triangle (3/4), square (4/4) or rainbow (2/4 or 6/8) shapes in the air to the beat/tempo of the music.
• Make swirls way above the head, on each side of the body and down by the feet.
• Try swaying them back-and-forth making a big rainbow above the head.
• Do circles up high working your way down low. 
• Zig-zag them in front of you.
• Let the children take turns being the leader by choosing how to move their sticks with the rest of the children following him or her. 

The children will enjoy doing these movements to the rhythm or beat of the music and of course, sing as you go.  Body movement with music is another wonderful way children learn to sing.

I like playing around on the computer and creating things, but sometimes life can get busy making it a bit difficult to find time to get things done.  The other week I had an AHA! moment.  Okay, maybe it was more like a DUH! moment because it just clicked in my little brain that I had a son who had just graduated in graphic design.  See what I mean by DUH!  I had a resource right under my nose to help me the past few years and I didn’t even realize it until the other week.
So, credit goes to him for helping me with creating the rainbow of CTR shields.  He was a good sport to help me while I was busy being so sick through the holidays.  Here is the file for the CTR shields.  I’ve tried to cover a variety of options; so hopefully, one will fit your needs.  If you are a traditionalist, one page has all green CTRs.  If you are one who loves the colors of the rainbow, there are a couple of pages of CTRs in 10 fun, loving colors to “choose” from.  If you like the simple things in life or don’t have the capacity to print in color, you can print the black and white version on white or colored card stock.  Just print the page that tickles your fancy.

All you have to do is print, cut and laminate (optional if you want more durability) and then glue them on a stick.  I use scrapbooking glue dots to adhere them to the stick: easy and clean.  Yes, I loooooove to scrapbook but haven’t done much of that since I got this calling.  Because there are only so many hours in a day, being Primary Chorister has taken over as my creative outlet for the moment.  Sorry, got a little off topic there.  Anyway, I prefer to use the tongue depressor sized sticks instead of the Popsicle size.  I find the bigger ones are easier to hold, at least for me.  I got a box of about 300 sticks a few years back at Walmart for around $6 and I still have about 1/3 left.

Oh, by the by, I just discovered a blog post that also has a link to some CTR shields if you prefer the classic version.

Go ahead and make some and then have fun using yours and your children’s creativity!