Singing a song over and over is FUN!!!

We need to sing a song over and over to memorize the words and think about the message.  Here is a list of different ways to practice a song over and over that will make it fun and keep the kids' attention.


1. Alligator mouth to control the volume- when his mouth is open wide, you sing loud. When it's open a little bit, you sing quiet.

2. Eddie Spaghetti -

 Pull a piece of yarn up through the hole.  Colors can mean different things, like boys/girls sing, or hum/sing.  (2 things I've learned about this: first- make a two or three-foot loop of yarn and just use that to pull through instead of actually pulling through all that yarn in the bowl - it gets tangled.  second- use a dark color and a light color because color blind boys can't see a difference in this red and green yarn.)  The bowl is made from an overhead transparency taped onto the posterboard.

3. Speedometer- this one works best if the chorister controls the speed of the song; otherwise the kids will change it too frequently. I cut a half-circle out of a piece of cardboard and covered the whole thing with contact paper on the front and back to make the clear window.  The needle is attached with a nut with a bolt on the other side so it moves easily.  Kind of like using a brad but heavy-duty.

 4. Thermometer- you can use this to have kids sit/stand, sing louder/softer, or it can measure how well they're singing.  Make a ribbon loop using one red piece and one white piece.  Cut a slit in the top of the poster and one in the bottom and thread the ribbon through, then glue the ends of the loop together and pull it up or down.

5. Happy/sad balls - kids sing happy or sad, depending on which ball you hold up.  (I also cut the mouths open with a steak knife and sometimes I put papers inside and the kids can pull out a paper to see how/what we're going to sing.)

 6. Conducting elephant - this one helps the kids learn to follow the conductor.  Sometimes our stubborn elephant visitor will stop conducting in the middle of the song and the kids have to stop singing until he moves his trunk again.  Or he will hold out a note really long and they have to keep singing it til he cuts them off.  They think it is hilarious.  

7. Bishop Bubblegum: Draw a picture of your bishop (or just draw a plain boy and call him something like "Billy Bubblegum").  Stand behind the poster and blow a pink balloon through the hole when they are singing well.  Let air out if they aren't singing well.  Their favorite part is at the end of the song when you let go of the balloon and the "gum" flies out of the Bishop's mouth and sails around the room!

8. Everyone conducts

9. No pianist/ No chorister

10. Whisper sing

11. Teachers only/Kids only

12. Girls/boys only

13. Stop sign- make an octagon on red paper and one on green.  Glue them to a paint stick.  When you hold up the green side, the kids sing.  When you turn it around, the kids hum the words.  The piano just keeps playing like normal the whole time.  This helps them to keep thinking of the words because when you turn back to green, they have to start singing the words that the piano is playing.  This one never gets old.

14. Flamingo Style (On one foot)

15. Sing as far as you can in one breath

16. Make a funny face while you sing

17. Opera style

18. Cowboy accent

19. Drill sergeant style (march and say the words grumpy)

20. One class sings while the other claps the rhythm, and the other hums

21. Everyone clap or step to the beat or rhythm

22. Popcorn style (staccato) this one is everybody's favorite!

23. Ice Cream style (Sit/stand on queue)- Hold an ice cream scoop in each hand.  The kids are ice cream. Their chairs are the cones.  You scoop them up [stand] and smash them down onto the cones [sit].  They love this! (And it's good practice for standing together for the Primary program.)

24. Get a microphone with a long cord and plug it into the wall.  Then have kids sing parts of the song solo into it.

25. Have one kid go out in the hall while the other hides a small object.  When the first kid comes back in, sing louder as they get closer to finding it and sing quieter as they get farther away. 

26. People wearing this color sing (it can be fun to hold up a banana for yellow, etc.)

27. Eyes closed

28. Magic word- I pick one word and they do an action every time we sing it (stand; move down a chair, jump).  They especially love when I put an extra chair at the end of each row and have them move down one each time we sing it (left the first time, right the next, etc.).

29. Super singer spray: fill a squirt bottle with a sweet drink that doesn't stain and shoot it into the mouths of the kids who are singing loud.  Be sure the squirt bottle is set to stream and not mist, or it will go all over their faces.  They will sing louder than you ever thought they could!

30. Blindfold a teacher and have them pin the [whatever] on the [whatever] (the kids sing loud/soft for how close the teacher is to pinning it).

31. Have each class sing one line of the song.  The class who sings the best has its teacher come up and wear a crazy hat while we all sing the whole song together.  I have a turkey hat and a green curly wig that I use for this.

32. Bring a roll of TP.  Pick two teachers.  Teacher A walks around teacher B wrapping her in TP while the kids sing.  She runs around her faster if they are singing good; walks slow if they're singing bad.

33. Cut a brother’s tie:  invite a member of the bishopric in or some other funny brother in the ward.  Give him a thrift store tie to be wearing when he comes in.  The kids sing their song and you cut off a big chunk of his tie if they sing well or a small chunk if they don't sing as well.  Have him tell the kids, "No! don’t sing well!"

34. Musical chairs: walk (to beat/rhythm) while singing. When piano stops, sit in the nearest chair.

35. Record them singing it and play it back for them

36. Race the piano

37. Each class is assigned a secret word (I, and, etc.).  That class has to do some silly action (quack, jump) each time we sing their word.  We sing the whole song and then we all guess what each class had.  We have to keep singing it until they have figured out what each class had (this works for Senior but not for Junior).

After singing lots of different ways, have kids vote on their favorite way and which way fits the song best.