new calling

I was recently called as the Primary chorister in our ward since the previous one was moving. I actually found out about a month before I was sustained, so I was able to observe in Primary for several Sundays before having to do it myself. That was especially helpful since I have never had a Primary calling, haven't been in Primary consistently since I graduated when I turned 12 (I'm 28...) and have little to no experience with kids (youngest child who didn't like babysitting).

The previous chorister majored in dance and was just a fun little ball of energy. After watching her with the kids, I did have some good ideas but also felt I had some big shoes to fill. I've been doing a lot of research online, looking for fun ideas for teaching songs and other music activities. Here are 2 I've used so far that have been pretty popular with the kids:

Ellie the conducting elephant

I saw this idea when I subbed in Primary in the Worthington Ward (Columbus). It's a poster (foam board) of an elephant with a hole for the nose. The child puts one leg of a pair of tights on their arm and conducts the song with the elephant's nose. I'm pretty proud of my Ellie (definitely wouldn't normally call myself artistic...).

Primary remote control

This was more of a hit than I realized it would be. We were learning Baptism (the song for July) and I was trying to figure out ways to repeat it over and over without the kids realizing it and getting bored and rowdy. I came across this idea and thought I would give it a try. I just made the buttons out of construction paper, but I'd like to laminate them and reuse them since it was so popular (the Jr Primary especially loved it, which surprised me). Instructions/explanation below: