DIRECTIONAL SINGING BIRDS

I like to use different aids to help direct the children in WHO will be singing and/or HOW we will be singing. I call these my Directional Singing Aids. Of course, with birds known for their singing and my last name being BIRD, I would be amiss if I didn't have some directional singing aid that wasn't bird related. So, one such aid I have created is my Directional Singing Birds. I have different bird signs that either show WHO can sing as well as HOW we should "sing".  


These are fun & easy to use whenever you need to help teach the melody of the song or sing a song over and over and over again. I've made two sizes that I use in different ways and have included the files below, but the smaller size might just be fine if you have a smaller Primary and only want to do one size.


The full, paper-sized sheets are laminated and then each mounted on a paint stirring stick. You could mount each individually on a stick or if you want, do two per stick, back-to-back keeping the "Who" birds grouped together and the "How" birds grouped together. That is what I did, but with the "Sing" and the "Hum" on their own sticks since I didn't have another one to group with each of those and besides, if I come up with another "Who" or "How" bird, I can add it to the back of those; but you could even put the hum and sing together on one stick. You may want to separate the girls and boys signs in case you want to hold up both for both to sing or you could just hold up the sing for both boys and girls. Instead of laminating, you could just put them in sheet protectors and hold them up. You only need to print one set of these larger birds

I will switch between two or more birds while we sing only using the WHO and other times only using the HOW. But then sometimes I may hold up a WHO and a HOW at the same time and switch them out while they are singing to make it a little trickier. This is a little easier to do if you only use one in each hand. It can be a little more trickier if you try to switch between several. To use more birds, an easier way is with the smaller size and posting them on the board as I'll explain below.

For the smaller size (2-per page file), print one or two sets of the birds except the Sing Bird. Print several of the Sing Birds so you have more opportunities to sing all together and maybe even a couple of extra of the "girls" and "boys" cards.  Cut around each leaving about a 1/4" border, laminate them and then adhere magnetic tape on the back side at the top and bottom. 

To use, post the flip chart to the song you will be teaching/reviewing (I use my magnetic page protectors on the board. See here for the post on how I make my magnetic page protectors for flip charts.) Have some children each pick a bird card that you have face down and fanned out like cards in your hands or in a stack on the table or displayed on the chalkboard rail. Then have each child place the one they picked under one of the flip chart pages and then sing the phrase, phrases, verse or the whole song in the order of the "Birds." After singing it through, continue to repeat the process until the time is up for that activity. 

Example of using just "WHO" sings birds

Example of using a mix of "WHO" & "HOW" birds.

You could also remove all the "Sing" birds from the draw pile keeping them separate and then only have a few children, depending on how many flip chart pages you have up, each pick a card and put up on the board under any flip chart page and then you fill in the rest with the "Sing" bird cards.

Another way to use these are like flash cards. Hold the "shuffled" stack in your hands face out to the children with the "Sing" card first, start singing and as you sing the song, every now and then, move the front card to the back and the next card up is who or how they will continue to sing the song. This keeps it fun and they have to concentrate a little since they don't know what will come up next and if they are "Ahhhhhing" and then a "Sing" card comes up, they will need to pick up singing the words from that point on. 

I will be using some of the birds in helping the children learn the new melody I will be teaching for the song

"The Wise Man and the Foolish Man". 

I will be posting my ideas for that song next if you are interested.


Have fun singing like birds!!!

Bird Directional Singing Signs-Large-Nalani
Bird Directional Singing Signs-2-Per Pg-Nalani

RIBBON WANDS: HOW TO MAKE

Late Posting Disclaimer: I typed this post up a couple of weeks ago and just plumb forgot to finish editing it and posting it on the blog, so although I talk about ribbon wands in conjunction with May's song below, ribbon wands can be used for just about any song any time.

Of course it is time to talk about

ribbon wands

because May's song,

"When I Am Baptized"

is just

SCREAMING

 for my rainbow ribbon wands

to be used.

Ribbon wands can be an investment in time and money depending on how many you make, but if you can swing it, you won't regret it. The children just loooooooooove using these. They never tire from them. They are great for teaching and feeling the melody of the music. The kiddos get plenty of movement to keep those wiggle worms at bay...and of course, you will certainly get your exercise in for the day. By-the-by, do any of you feel like you've just finished your workout at the gym after you get home from church??? I'm sure I would be in much better shape if I did my "Primary Workout" on a daily basis instead of once a week!


Anywhoooooo, I made my ribbon wands a couple of years ago and use them at least a few times a year. The kids would probably love it if I would use them more often, but there are always so many other things I want to try and do. These are great for nursery too! I first introduce the ribbon wands in Primary after we did the program. It was a great, fun way to release all those wiggles they had held inside of them from sitting so well in Sacrament meeting and it was an easy singing time just singing fun songs and taking turns following the leader in twirling the wands. I've done this for the last two programs and plan on using them again this year, so I guess it has become a tradition.


Ribbon wands are easy to make, but will take a little time to put together if you plan on making quite a few. There are a variety of ways to make them, but this is how I made mine.


ITEMS NEEDED PER RIBBON WAND

• 12" long (I think the diameter I used is about 1/4")  (a 4' dowel will give you 4-12" ribbon wands)
• Small eye hook
• Small fishing swivel
• 36" long double-sided satin ribbon x 1" wide (I did my ribbon 1 1/4" wide x 86" long for the wand I would use because it is just cool to see how a full-length one works. Don't make the children's too long because they would be too difficult for the little ones to use.)
• Scissors
• Saw to cut the dowels or have them cut at the hardware store, but they may charge per cut.
• Drill and drill bit smaller than the eye hook screw or a big headed push pin
• 2 Pliers
• Sand Paper
• Thin blade screw driver 
• Lighter or lit candle (no, this is not to help set the mood)
• Spray paint (optional)

HOW TO MAKE A RIBBON WAND

1. Cut the dowels into 12" lengths.
2. Sand smooth the cut ends and any other areas that are rough. Don't want any slivers.
3. Drill or use a push pin to start a hole to screw in the eye hook. If you use a drill, be very careful in holding the stick so you don't slip and hurt yourself with the drill. You may also want to put a piece of tape around the drill bit to help mark how deep you drill to in the stick. Make sure the drill bit you use is thinner than the screw part on the eye hook so that the screw "bites" into the wood when it is screwed in.
4. If you want, you could paint your dowel. I decided not to because I didn't have the time and I figured over time the paint would start to chip off making them look less attractive. But that's your call.
5. With one plier in one hand grip one side of the eye hook and with the other plier in your other hand, grab the opposite side of the eye hook and slightly pry open by bringing one hand towards you and the opposite hand away from you to open the eye hook wide enough so you can hook on the fishing swivel then close the eye hook back up. Don't try to pry the hook open in a split fashion. It is much harder to close if you do. Hope that is clear as mud.
6. Screw in the eye hook and fishing swivel combo into the hole in the dowel. To help save on your fingers, use the thin blade screw driver to slip into the eye hook hole as leverage to help twist the screw in or use your pliers.
7. Thread one end of the ribbon through the other end of the fishing swivel.
8. Tie a double knot on the end of the ribbon so it won't pull through the fishing swivel. I did not tie a knot directly to the fishing swivel's loop because it didn't seem to swivel as well, it looked a little more bulky and it was harder to tie a knot on the swivel without ending up with a long tail.
9. With the lighter or lit candle, carefully melt the edges of the ribbon to help prevent fraying.
10. Voilà! Now you have a fantastical ribbon wand.

Here are a couple of other quick ribbon wand variations.

• You could use thinner ribbon such as 1/4" wide double-satin ribbon in different colors. Decide on the length you want and double that measurement. Cut 2 or more ribbons in that length. Thread the ribbons through the eye hook (depending on your ribbon width, you may want a bigger eye hook). Even out the ribbons so your eye hook is in the middle of the ribbons. Tie the ribbons in a double knot. Seal the cut edges from fraying and you are good to go. You could add a swivel if you want the ribbon to swirl better.

• A less expensive way is to use 6-7 36" strips of curling ribbon and glue it on the tongue depressor sized craft sticks. Then glue some ribbon around the area where you have glued to help give it a finished look and extra holding power. I have several colors of curling ribbon on large spools that I bought a long time ago from an Xpedx store that I use for gift wrapping. There is a lot of ribbon on those spools that have lasted me for years. Use just one color or several colors. This size is great for those little nursery hands.

I'm sure you could probably find a variety of other ways to make ribbon wands on the internet as well as you can purchase them off the internet, but they can get quite pricey.

Later I will post ways to use ribbon wands along with cheat sheets for different pattern movements to help you in choreographing your songs.

EGG-CITING EGG SHAKERS

Now that  Easter is over, it is time to confiscate all those plastic Easter eggs probably lying around the house void of the  yummy treats once inhabited inside, or check out the clearance sales or dollar store and purchase them for cheap because now is the season to make some fun-to-use. . . 

EGG-CITING EGG SHAKERS!!!

This is a great, easy rhythm instrument to make that doesn't cost much (hey, you may already have everything just sitting around the house) and the kids will love them as they learn songs through rhythm. You play the eggs similar to maracas by shaking them to the beat or to add accents to the rhythm. An accent example would be like; shake—shake—shake-a—shake-a—shake. Can you hear me saying this and visualize me shaking my egg?

"Shake—shake—shake-a-shake-a—shake!"

LOL Yeah, so hard to demonstrate this in words. These are great to use in nursery too!

HERE'S HOW TO MAKE THEM

Materials

• Plastic Easter eggs
• Filling: rice, popcorn kernels, lentils, barley, beans, etc.
• Experiment with each to see what sound you like the best. I first made mine with rice but soon discovered after the first use that the plastic eggs have some small air holes in them and some of the smaller pieces of rice came out on the floor when the kids shook them. So I redid them using popcorn kernels.  HAH! Now those suckers won't pop out of the holes!
• Hot glue gun and hot glue sticks
• I tried a variety of glues and the hot glue seemed to work the best.
• Ribbon, optional
• Egg cartons for storage or some other container like a box, bag or basket.

Instructions

1. Open the plastic egg separating it into the two pieces.
• If the egg is hinged, you may want to cut the hinge off to make it easier for gluing.
2. Put a tablespoon or two of your filler in the bottom half of the egg. Use more or less filler depending on how you like the sound.
3. Run a bead of hot glue around the rim of the egg. If you don't think you can be very neat, run the bead of glue on the inside rim of the top half of the egg; however, you usually can peel dried hot glue off of the outside of the plastic egg.
4. Carefully attach the top of the plastic egg to the bottom half.
5. You can glue a piece of ribbon around the outside of the seam for a more decorative look if you like. 
• If you use these for nursery, depending on how rough your little ones can be, you may want to glue the ribbon around the seam for added security. See the one lone egg with the ribbon around its middle in the picture below. Unfortunately, I have not gotten around to finishing putting ribbon on the eggs. Someday...

And there you have it!  Easy-peasy!

OTHER IDEAS FOR PLAYING THEM

• There are two main ways to hold the egg shakers: one is simply in the palm of your hand shaking up and down, which is usually the easiest. Another way is holding the larger end of the egg between your fingers (mainly with your thumb and first two fingers) with the pointed end facing out in a forward position and shaking it in a forward and back pattern. In this position, the filler has a little more room to go back-and-forth in making it a little easier to do more accent-type shaking as well as being able to do a good, crisp shake.
• Alternate shakes raising your hand up and down.
• Do a couple of shakes above the head and a couple at chest level or to each side of the body.
• Do a strong shake on the downbeat and soft shakes on the other beats or every-other beat.
• Alternate each side of the room having the children shaking their eggs to the beat.
• Tap the egg shaker in the opposite hand in different beat or rhythm patterns.
• With the older kids, have them snap their fingers or slap their thigh on the downbeat with one hand and shake the egg on the other beats with the other hand.
• Shake to the rhythm of the song while pitch leading. It is easier to do this holding the egg in the second position I mentioned above with the pointed end of the egg facing out while holding between the fingers.
• March or incorporate some other movement while shaking the eggs.
• For an added choose and review fun activity, you could fill several plastic eggs each with a different filling as mentioned above as well as other household items like paper clips, marbles, coins, jingle bells, buttons, pasta, small toys, etc. Go with the jumbo sized eggs for extra oomph on this one. Then shake an egg and let the kids guess what is inside the egg. You could give them a hint by listing the different fillings or showing a sample of the fillings and seeing if they can match the eggs up one-by-one. When they guess one of them right, sing the song you have assigned that egg. Continue singing the assigned songs as they guess each one.

NOW, GO GET SHAKING!!!

SPEC—TACULAR SINGING SUNGLASSES

There I go again with those alliterations.  Don't you just  loooooove how it rolls off the tongue???  Spec—tacular Singing Sunglasses!  Yeah, I know, it is just another fun, fancy, smancy name I made up for a well known Primary singing game.  Some of the names I've heard it go by are: Headband Hero, Word Nerd, and Hat Game.  It's been a couple of years since I've done this one, so I guess it is time to bring it back, except this time with a little bit of a President Hinkley "BE" STING to give it a little oomph using his "6 Be's", and maybe a couple of extra "Be" songs for good measure (probably won't get through them all, but at least there is a good choice to pick from.)

The basics of the game is that a Key word written on a word strip that has been chosen from the song or phrase you are working on is placed on a hat, in a sweatband, on glasses or smacked-dabbed with tape on a child's forehead.  Everyone can see the word except the child who is standing there in front of everyone else with the word prominantly displayed on his/her head or forehead.  The Primary sings the song or phrase but omits singing the word or la-la's over the word, or what works better for JR is to sing the word louder than the rest of the song. In JR Primary, since most of the kids can't read, have the child leave the room for a moment while you tell the rest of the children what the word is. The guessing child needs to listen carefully while singing the song in their head while everyone sings out load so he/she can figure out what the secret word is and then gives the answer at the end of the song or phrase you are singing.  This is a great way to review a song over-and-over-and-over-and-over-and-over. . . again. 

I will be using this as a choose and review singing time and this is how I will be doing it.

ITEMS NEEDED & FILES

• "Stand for the Right" visual found in this post 
• Picture of Gordon B. Hinkley
• Pictures that represent the 6 "Be's" plus pictures for the extra "Be's" you have chosen.

This is the Bee file for the following two items:

• Bee "Word Strips" with the Song Key Word—1 for each song/picture you will use. You can print the small bee images, one bee for each song, and write the key word for each song on the back of them.  I cut and laminated mine since I figured I may use them again for another activity.  Can just use a piece of paper.
• Bee on a Big Stick visual (optional but good for cueing the children).  I cut the bee out, laminated it, painted a paint stirrer stick that I then adhered my bee to.

Oooo, a hand model I will never be.

• Spec—tacular Singing Sunglasses or other Key Word contraption holding device (hope you understood that technical jargon I used.) Instructions for the glasses & other spectacular eyewear options below.
• Bee Hand Puppet for each JR child.  (This is my file but I originally got the hand puppet idea from here.)  Just print on regular paper, cut around the music note frame leaving a little white border around it, fold in half, staple along both sides 3 times leaving the bottom open for inserting the hand. You could use your CTR sticks instead that can be found in this post for your children to raise to help clue the guessing child or just have them raise their hand or stand up on the secret word as they sing it.
• Song Key Sheet of songs you would like to sing (This is an example of mine)

Some of these items are optional depending on how much you want to do. Adjust for what works for you.

HOW TO PLAY

1. I plan on reviewing "Stand for the Right" first for a couple of times along with using sign language (cheat sheet file in this post) to get some movement in and warm them up.
2. Then I may switch out President Monson's picture with President Hinkley's from my SFTR visual on the board.
3. I will have the pictures I've selected to represent my "Be's" scattered face down on the board along with a word strip bee with the correlating song's key word written on the backside of the bee but taped with the word down on top of each back of the picture.  If you choose to just use a word strip, just make sure the word is face down on the back of the picture and cannot be seen through the paper.
4. Select a child to come up and pick a picture.  Show the picture and quickly ask about or explain the picture on how it helps us to stand for the right.  Here is a link to Hinkley's 6 Be's talk that he gave to the youth if you would like to review it.
5. Have the child put on the Spec—tacular Singing Sunglasses. Remove the "Be" key word or word strip from the picture and place or adhere it on the Spec—tacular Singing Sunglasses making sure the guessing child does not see the word (remember for the younger children, you may have to have the child leave the room first so you can tell the rest of the Primary the word.)
6. Sing the song that goes with the picture.  The "Be" key word may be in the song more than once, so be careful not to sing any of them.
1. For JR, I plan on using the bee hand puppets I made last year when I taught the SFTR song, except in this game, I will have the JR stand up and hold up their bee hand puppet when we sing the secret word. Of course, I will hold up my Bee on a Big Stick for both JR & SR as a cue for them. 
2. For SR, you could have them Bzzz and/or stand on the key word instead of not singing it.  
7. After singing the song, have the guessing child tell everyone what he/she thinks the word was.
8. Repeat taking turns with the picking and singing process.

HOW I MADE THESE SPEC—TACULAR SINGING SUNGLASSES

(Get it? Spec—tacular)

A variety of Spec—tacular Singing Sunglasses to choose from!

Shortly after I was called as Primary Music Leader I went to a 3D movie and while waiting for the movie to start, I was staring blankly at my 3D glasses when suddenly, the music leader brain cells in me started churning and churning for ways to use this awesome piece of junk potential singing treasure in singing time. My Spec—tacular Singing Sunglasses was born!  To make these, I cut off 3" from the bottom of a page protector. Used glue dots to adhere it to the top rim of the glasses.  Cut a colored piece of card stock to fit inside of it to help keep the page protector from flopping over and to give it some fun color.  The key word strip slides inside the sheet protector or you can tape it on the front.  I then cut out a treble clef and a music note or rather a sixteenth note with some scrap fun foam to give it a singing time awesome look.  And voilà! The most Super Spec—tacular Singing Sunglasses ever!  For the JR, try using the child size 3D glasses for a better fit on their small heads.  If you want something easier, there are fabulous and stylish glasses you can pick up from the dollar store nearest you and use as is or with a piece of tape wrapped around the center for a wordy-nerdy look or just use some ol' glamour style pair of glasses you have hanging around the house. 

RHYTHM STICKS OR CLAVES

Kids love rhythm sticks or claves (Klay-Vays—African/Latin) probably because they make loud noises and they get to bang them together.  Hey, when it comes to kids, it doesn't get much better than that especially when it comes to instruments.  Songs with an upbeat tempo such as “Choose the Right” and “Follow the Prophet” are great for using rhythm sticks.

You will need two sticks per child.  If you don't have enough, you can take turns by class.  You can purchase rhythm sticks for around  $2 and up a set.  Here are a couple of places on the Internet you can purchase them from: Front Row Experience and Amazon.  There are other various versions of the sticks as well. Purchasing rhythm sticks can be a bit costly though.  

If you don’t have a Primary budget for it, here are some options.

• You can make your own by purchasing 5/8” diameter dowels and cutting them into 8”-12” lengths.  You could fancy them up by painting them or keep them au naturel.  To even save more on the cost, you could go with a smaller diameter, but they won’t make as loud of a noise, which could be good or bad depending on how you look at it.
• You can also make them from ½” - 1” diameter PVC pipe
• You could buy pencils, especially during the back-to-school sale time.  Because of the size, the pencils will not make as loud of a sound.  Is that good? Bad?  Like I said before . . . your preference.  Oh yeah, don’t sharpen the pencils.
• Check out your local Chinese specialty grocery store and get some inexpensive wooden Chinese chopsticks, the ones with the blunt tips, not the Japanese ones with the more pointed tips. They usually have fairly inexpensive ones.  You could even collect those cheap disposable ones for free from the restaurants whenever you go and eat Chinese.  Just go out with a bunch of family or friends and have them all ask for a set, of course, wash them well after eating with them.  Cut off the tips and sand down if they are still a little too pointy. The best ones are the ones that you don't have to pull apart, but if that is all you can find, then make sure you sand down the rough edges where they are torn apart.  Maybe if you ask nicely, the restaurant will give you extra ones for free or for a nominal charge.  They aren't very expensive for the restaurants when they buy them in bulk—usually a few cents each or you can probably buy some in bulk off the internet for $5 or less for a set of 100. 

• You could check with your stake to see if they have some rhythm sticks that you can borrow.  If not, maybe you could suggest to the stake music leader to purchase some that can be shared with the wards in the stake.
• If you know someone that works at a school, you could borrow from there.  I’m fortunate to have a sister who works in a school that I am able to borrow the sticks from about 2-3 times a year. 

If you have never used rhythm sticks before, introduce them first by showing the children how they are tapped together to make a sound.  Explain that when the music is played or you sing the song, rhythm sticks are tapped together to the beat of the music (# of beats in a measure or can also be the tempo) or the rhythm of the music (sounds and silences in the music with differing lengths or gaps between them—basically the patterns of the notes/words being sung).

Before passing out the rhythm sticks, you must make sure you have made clear your expectations regarding the use of them.  I always explain that I know that they will treat the sticks nicely, that they will make sure they don’t poke, hit or hurt others with them, that they know stick fighting with them is not right (yep, all those boys I have), that they will keep them out of their mouth and when I say “sticks up” or have my sticks pointing upward, they must also have their sticks up and quiet.  Also let them know that if they choose to not follow the rules that the consequence will be to have their sticks taken away from them.  And most importantly, you must follow through if any children do not behave properly.  You can always return them to the child after a short time has passed with the reminder that they will be taken away again if they choose to not use the sticks right.  Setting the ground rules up front is a real important step to remember to do with anything you hand out to the children to use so that you can keep some semblance of order. 

WARNING!  This activity can be real fun for the children, but it can also get out of control if you don’t maintain control of the group.  Does it always go reverently—quietly?  Of course not, but having the guidelines and following through helps a lot.  Also, there will be some noise with the sticks hitting together, which is part of the experience, so, as an adult, if you are a bit sensitive to noises, rhythm instruments may not be for you or just use smaller diameter sticks. Yes, this is one time that Boyd K. Packer's quote of "Reverence . . .does not equate with absolute silence" will be generously utilized.

Here are some suggestions on how to use them:

• Have them tap the sticks together only on certain parts or words of the song.
• March around the room as you play the sticks.  This is mainly for JR.
• Sit on the floor in a circle or in a group and tap the sticks on the floor in front 4 times then tap sticks together 4 times. Repeat.  Add another tapping version to the mix, such as 4 taps above the head, after they have mastered the pattern taught.
• They can be played with a partner similar to hand clapping patterns I have explained in the "Books in the Book of Mormon" post here. (Scroll down to the bullet points.) This is usually too complicated for JR.
• Use the dynamics in the song to direct how to play the sticks; loud vs soft, staccato vs legato.
• After doing a few basic movements with the sticks, ask the children if they can think of a different way the rhythm sticks can be tapped together.  E.g. above the head, down low to the ground, behind your back, on the left side, on the right side, on the floor in front of you, on the floor to the right, left or either side of the legs, on the lap, on the shoulders, with a partner, turn then tap, kick a leg forward then tap, stomp-stomp-tap-tap, step to the left-tap, step to the right-tap, oh, the list could go on and on.  Oh yes, you can get a good workout from this!

As you can see, playing rhythm sticks is not only fun, but they are also great for reviewing a song over and over, teaching the rhythm and beat of a song as well as the children are able to use movement in their singing.

MR. SINGING SNOWMAN & POM-POM SNOWBALLS

Usually at the end of the month I like to review program songs in a fun way.  Since this is the first month of the year and we only have one program song under our belt, I thought we would review some other songs along with “As a Child of God” (we may be a bit rusty on this one since we missed a week with Stake Conference being last Sunday) as well as a couple of wiggle songs for the JR Primary.  So this week is a Choose & Review Week.   

We have had a dry winter here in Utah.  We really haven’t had any snow.  Not that I miss it really, but it would have been nice to have some for Christmas and now and again to help clean out the air.  Being in the Wasatch Front Valley area, we can get a lot of inversions trapping in all those lovely pollutants.  

       Oooo, Bad, Yucky air.  

The ski resorts have been pretty busy making their own snow this season since Mother Nature hasn’t cooperated.  But FINALLY, we got snow this week.  Ahhh, we can breath a little better now.  So in celebration of the snow, here is the

Mr. Singing Snowman  I made.  He has a bit of a frightened look on his face. Maybe it is because of the pom-pom snowballs that will be flying at him come Sunday.  OH MY!

I don’t have a pattern, but I can give you general dimensions and instructions in case you feel you need a little Singing Snow Fun.  The snowman poster was pretty easy to make.

• I just used one of those tri-fold project boards so it could stand on a table on its own.  I may put an extra one I have behind it leaving some space between the two to help corral the snowballs that make it through the holes or maybe I will just have the kiddies take turns being helpers in picking up the snowballs. 
• I cut the snowman out of 1 ½ sheets of white poster board (on sale for 4 sheets for $1 at Hobby Lobby—got the blue project board with the 40% coupon too.)  The body circle was cut from the full sheet of poster board and is about 21 ½” in diameter and the hole is 10 ¼” diameter.  His head is about 13 ½” diameter with a 6” hole for the mouth.
• For the body I used a hand-made version of a compass to make a large circle; pencil and string.  I measured the poster to find the center from top-to-bottom and side-to-side then tied a pencil on each end of the string so I had about 10 ¾” of string between both pencils.  Stuck one pencil in the center and drew the circle with the other pencil keeping the string taunt between the pencils. The other circles I just scrounged around my house to find something circular to trace that would work.  I ended up using two different plate sizes and a pot lid.
• I chalked around the outer edges of the circles with a light blue chalk to help give the body some depth.  Sprayed the chalk areas with a Fix-it sealer but you can use a fine aerosol type hairspray to put a protective layer over the chalk or don’t worry about it since there isn’t that much chalk and it won’t really be handled much.  You could also just use a crayon or not even worry about coloring the edges at all.
• I placed the white circles on the board to mark where I needed to cut the holes.  Then I removed the circles so I could cut the marked holes with an Exacto knife.
• I glued the body on first then the head.  I used a spray adhesive since that is usually easiest for large areas, but of course, any adhesive that is handy should work.  (Nothing like standing out in the freezing cold to spray the adhesive on and then to quickly run inside through the living room then to the dining room table zig-zagging around all the furniture to hurry and glue it on before it dried.)  Brrrrrrr, it was cold outside.
• I cut all the clothes and body features out of glitter craft fun foam, because . . . well. that stuff is just plain ol’ fun to use.  Also, I thought it would give a little dimension to him; although you really can’t tell by the picture.  But, paper works just as well.

Here are some rough dimensions to help give you an idea.

• Arms are about 14” long.
• Hat is about 10 1/2'” wide for the brim and the top hat width is 7 ½” wide x 8 ¼” tall.
• The blue hat trim is about 1 ½” high and the width of the hat.
• The eyes are irregular circles since of course, coal is not perfectly round.
• And let us not forget the google eyes to give him a little life.  I cannot live without google eyes.  I use them all the time for all the fun things I make for the kids.  They are sooooooo much fun and bring a smile.
• For the carrot I just cut out a long, skinny shaped triangle with wiggly edges and took an orange Sharpie to line around the edges and draw detailed squiggle lines inside the carrot to help make it look, well, more carroty.  You probably can’t see the detail from the picture, but the simple details help to bring the carrot to life.
• The scarf I just freehanded a template on paper first until I got it how I liked it and then traced it onto the fun foam.  I cut the end of the scarf to resemble fringes.  I also cut some circles out of fun foam and glued them onto the scarf for a “designer” look.  Some fun, patterned scrapbook paper would make a cute scarf too.
• I had some white, glittery, plastic snowflakes from Christmas decorations of looooooong ago that I adhered to the board with Self-adhesive Velcro.  The snowflakes are numbered on the back for the songs to sing that I’ll have listed on a key sheet (not enough room on the snowflakes to write the songs.)  There are more snowflakes than what we will have time to sing, but just had to add more ‘cuz it just looked better. Paper snowflakes will work just as well using painters tape to adhere to the board so the tape won’t tear the board.
• I cut the shanks off of two buttons and then glued them on the snowman to give him more of that GQ look.
• Oh yes, I also glued a snowflake on his hat to make it stylin’.

 I made pom-pom snowballs out of white yarn.  These are easy to make.  I just made me several one night watching TV.  You only probably need about 2-4 snowballs.  I just got carried away having fun making them.  They are about 3 3/8” in diameter.  I almost wished I had made them 4” but that might have been a little big for those tiny hands.  I used a pom-pom maker tool by Clover (the gadget in the picture) but you can easily make them with a piece of cardboard.  In fact, in the August 2011 Friend magazine, there are instructions on making the “Warm Fuzzies” on page 3.  Just make them bigger.  You can also search the Internet on how to make pom-poms.  There are actually quite a few methods floating around, even one using a CD and popsicle sticks.  I bet I’ve got you wondering on that one!  If you don’t want to do pom-poms, you could use wadded up paper shaped into a ball or Styrofoam balls for the snowballs.

The object of the game is to have the children take turns throwing the snowballs at the snowman trying to make it through one of the holes.  I'll probably just give them two snowballs per turn to throw.  Take some masking tape to mark where the throw line is (make it closer for JR).

• If they get a snowball in the big tummy hole, they can pick a song snowflake.  If they get a snowball through the smaller mouth hole, they get to pick their favorite Primary song to sing.  
• You could also list the songs on the snowflakes on one side of the poster and the snowflakes on the other side could be ways to sing the song, e.g. Boys vs Girls, Loud vs. Soft, Sing vs. Hum, etc.
• Maybe you could have the children write their favorite song on a piece of paper then wad it up and have them try and throw them through the holes.  Then pick the songs to sing from the snowballs that made it through the hole.

I found this cute little 2 gallon bucket at work that was going to be thrown out and my Primary Singing Brain just started churning to figure out how to use it for singing time.  I’m always thinking of how I can use those odds and ends that I find around; it’s one of those side effects you get from being the Primary Music Leader!  What can I say???  Anyway, a thought came to me about how fun it would be to use it to carry my snowballs in and for the kids to pick up the thrown snowballs from the ground and put them back in it.  I think they had just as much fun picking up the balls and putting them back into the bucket as they did with the snowman.  I just printed and cut out some of these snowflakes and the “For Sale” sign and adhered them to the bucket.  I probably should have put something like “Snowballs for Sale for a Song” instead.  Oh, there really isn’t that many snowballs in the bucket as portrayed in the picture.  I just put some stuff inside the bucket so I could place the snowballs on top for the picture.  

What other ideas can you think of for using this for singing time?

  

I hope you have Snow Much Fun with this!