How do you feel?

Last Sunday I wanted to help the kids become more aware about how the music and songs made them feel.  We have one particular little fellow in jr. primary who is really bothered by loud sounds and therefore always covers his ears when we sing Praise to the Man.  This got me thinking that I need to not only teach the doctrine of the songs but really focus on how they make us feel and the importance of singing them appropriately.

So I started the singing time with exercises that emphasized the 5 senses, we played a quick "I Spy with my little eye" to talk about sight.  I had someone come up and put on a blindfold then I handed them an object that they had to describe to me for touch.  We sang really loud and really soft to talk about hearing.  I told them we couldn't really taste the songs or lick them (ha ha) but talked a little about the sense of taste.  We talked about different smells we experience (careful those 8-10 year old boys will of course make a "stinky smell" for everyone) and then I told them there is a sixth sense.

We talked about how we can listen with our hearts.  We sang "If I Listen With My Heart" and really talked about how we hear Jesus' voice and what the Holy Ghost whispers to our hearts.  One by one I had a volunteer come up and put on a blindfold and sit in a chair.  I told them to concentrate on how they felt while we sang.  We reviewed the primary program songs twice each, one time really exuberantly focusing on saying the words lovely and loud and then we sang it again focusing on they testimony being born in the song.  After each song I asked my volunteer how they two felt different.

This was a really simple and amazing activity that really helped the kids learn the importance of the testimonies they were bearing with each song and the importance of each word and the way we sing them.  I'm so excited for them to share those testimonies in our program in 2 weeks!!