CHILDREN ALL OVER THE WORLD

One of my favorite Primary songs

during Thanksgiving time is

"Children All Over the World."

I just love the happy, swaying melody.  I've made a flip chart you can download below. I also made some fun posters that I got the idea from the book, The Children's Songbook Companion which was originally designed to be a lesson manual for the Children's Songbook. I embellished the posters some. I will try and take pictures and post as soon as I can.  Here is a lesson plan and some ideas on presenting the song to the children that I put together last year. 

LESSON PLAN WITH VARIOUS IDEAS TO USE

• Say one of the foreign words for "thank you" in the song that the children may not know then ask:
• If you know what I said, raise your hand.
• What? you don't understand this word?
• Do you think that Heavenly Father understands this word?
• There are children that live all over the world and they speak many different languages.
• Do you think Heavenly Father understands all those different languages?
• I want you to listen while I sing to find out if Heavenly Father really does understand all the children around the world. [YES]
• I want you to also listen for the word I said (repeat the foreign word "thank you" in the language you chose earlier) and see if you can figure out what the words means.  [THANK YOU]
• Sing then receive answers
• Post flip chart on the board so teachers can sing with you.
• Listen again and this time count how many different languages I sing for "Thank You." [6]
• Sing again and let the teachers sing with you if you want then receive answers.

• SWAY & FREEZE
• Tell the children to follow you carefully swaying side-to-side with their bodies and arms but they must freeze when I stop singing.
• The piano stops as well. It is helpful for the pianist if he/she sees your arms swaying so he/she knows when you stop and so the pianist can stop.
• Stop and freeze after each short phrase only working on a section at a time. Here is an example of a section of the song cut into four phrases.
• Phrase 1: All over the world at the end of day
• Phrase 2: Heavenly Father's children kneel down and pray
• Phrase 3: Each saying, "Thank you" in his own special way
• Phrase 4: Saying, "Thank you. Thank you." In his own special way
• Repeat swaying and singing going through each phrase with the children repeating each phrase a time a two before moving to the next phrase.
• Repeat the process when you are ready to move to the next section of the song.

• Make sure you help the children pronounce the foreign words.

• CHILDREN POSTERS
• Make and use posters for the children to hold up while they sing. The kids do love the posters. Another fun thing to do with the posters is to have the teachers come up and be the "poster children" holding them. The kids get a good laugh out of that. I'll post the ones I made as soon as I can.

• BELLS
• Invite 4 children to play the bells on the words “THANK YOU” (all languages) & after singing “He loves them” at the end of the song.
• This is great to start doing when you want to practice just the last section of the song on the "loves them" part. This can give a nice break from the Sway & Freeze activity. Have them ring the bells 2 times all together on the echo part of "loves them" and after "every one." After they get the end of the song down, sing the whole song through and incorporate the bells when ever "Thank you" is sung as well.
• I used the following tone bells: Low A, D, F#, & A. You could add G if you want 5.

• OTHER POSSIBLE QUESTIONS TO ASK
• Write the following questions on pieces of paper and attach to different flags from around the world or print another set of flags from the flip chart and cut out and attach the questions or put the questions in a bowl to pick from. As you are learning the song, have a child pick one of the questions and have the Primary listen for the answer as they sing the song.
• What do Heavenly Father’s children all over the world do at the end of day? [Kneel and pray]
• What does each child say in his own special way? [Thank you]
• Who hears them? [Heavenly Father]
• What else do we learn about Heavenly Father? [That he knows, loves and understands the language of every person.]
• Tender voices are heard where? [All over the world.]
• You could have them figure out which country each language is from in the song.
• Gracias: Spanish
• Malo: Tongan
• Wir danken dir: German
• Tak: Danish
• Merci: French
• Kansha shimasu: Japanese

BEAR YOUR TESTIMONY that Heavenly Father does love every single child around the world no matter where they live, what they look like or what language they speak and that Heavenly Father does understand you when you pray to him.

Hope that gives you some fun ideas for teaching the song.

Children All Over the World—FC-Nalani