overheard

Mom: Elise, your hair looks so pretty!
Elise: You hair not look pretty, Nonny (Mommy).

*****

Jr Primary has been really rough and crazy the last few weeks, and today my plans weren't working. I was flustered and ad-libbing when this happened.

Sis. Casaday: We've been singing a lot of Christmas songs. Why do we even care about Christmas?
Unidentified child: Presents!

*****

One of Elise's new favorite words is "actually." (It's funny and sometimes scary to see what Brian and I must say a lot based on what words and phrases she starts saying. We're not sure where she picked up "oh gosh" though.)
Elise (on potty): Need toilet paper.
Mom: Did you pee in the potty?
Elise: Um, actually, I didn't.

*****

Mom: Elise, take one more big drink before we go upstairs.

Elise: *gulp* One. *gulp* Two. *gulp* Three. *gulp* Four!

*****

Other favorite phrases are "not really" and "a little ____." For example...

Mom: Elise, did you poop?

Elise: Um, not really.

Elise (looking at plate of food): It's hot.
Dad: Is it?
Elise: Um, no, a little warm.

overheard (Primary edition)

When we sing the Hello Song to visitors, I often ask them if they know how to say "hello" in a different language to spice it up a little.
Amy: Do you know any other languages?
Visitor (4 years old?): Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.
I had no idea how to respond to that, so we sang, "Twinkle, twinkle...we welcome you today!"

*****

Back in December, I had my sub teach the kids a little about musical notation (staccato vs. legato, pp vs. ff, fermata). It provides an easy way to repeat songs without the kids getting bored, so I used it again with Sr Primary a few weeks ago.
Amy: Do you remember what legato means?
Excited kid in back of room (I still have no idea who): Silently!

****

At the beginning of the year, I found a cute idea to help the new Sunbeams remember to stay in their seats. I put little paper eggs on their seats and told them they needed to keep the eggs warm so they could see what they were helping to hatch by the end of Sharing Time. If they did pretty well, I had little papers to hand out that said "I hatched a ______ by being reverent in Primary" (the blank had a picture of whatever bird or animal they hatched that week. The first week, I handed out the papers and heard a very excited little girl exclaim, "I hatched a chicken!"

*****

When I started teaching Children All Over the World, I wanted to emphasize the ways to say "thank you" in other languages first. To get the kids excited about it...
Amy: Do you know any other languages?
J (4): Dutch!
(His Mom, the newly-called 2nd counselor, burst out laughing and explained that he says that all the time at home, even though he doesn't speak a word.)

*****

I was using some pictures from the Gospel Art Kit (thanks, Mom!!) to teach Follow the Prophet. Holding up a picture of Adam and Eve walking through the Garden of Eden, I asked if anyone knew who it was. The kids (Jr) were, not surprisingly, having trouble identifying them. Suddenly, a younger kid raised his hand.
R (4): It's Adam and Eve!
R's dad (looking at R's mom - they teach another class): Did you teach him that? I didn't!

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: