Pom Pom Owls, Reverence, and Possible Nursery Fun

Earlier this year I saw a fun idea to get your new sunbeams to hold still and stay in their seats over at this blog and it got me thinking about how fun it would be to use in nursery.  So here's the plan for fall singing in nursery

I'm gonna make these darling pom pom owls

and then make some Big Nests (circles) with baby owl eggs in them (do owls lay eggs . . okay that was such a blonde question I'm embarrassed I even typed it but it's funny so I'll keep it!) for the kids to sit on.  I'll encourage them to keep their nests and eggs warm by sitting on them and their little hands still by helping their owls be reverent.  

This idea could also work well for those kids that are super wiggly and need tactile things to keep them focused!

The Most Fun EVER

Okay so here's a little something I do with my Primaries to get their wiggles out when they are super wiggly!  I use either "Follow The Prophet" or "Give Said the Little Stream" or "Jesus Wants Me For A Sunbeam" and in Jr. Primary I add an extra chair on the end of each row.  When we say the chosen word (Prophet, Give or Sunbeam) they have to move to the right, on the next occurrence of the word they move left. . .it's so funny because they really have to pay attention to stay out of their neighbor's lap.  In Sr. Primary we play it either row by row, moving left until you get to the end and running back to the first chair when you reach the end, or we do it in a snakelike pattern and when you reach the very back of the room you come all the way to the front.
Something to remember when doing this all time favorite is to remind them that we are in Jesus' house and reverence is still necessary.  If anyone is being to wild I or one of the teachers just tap them on the shoulder and they have to sit out that round.  It's always been very successful and after making sure to remind everyone that Primary is not a place to push or shove or get over competitive we have always had lots of fun doing this!!


One more thing I've learned to help have fun while being reverent is to songs like Jesus Wants Me For A Sunbeam and having them jump up but stay silent on Sunbeam. . .this method works for lots of songs.

Wiggle Worms

I borrowed this idea from The Children Sing and just adapted it to what I had available.  I put all the favorite Wiggle Songs and the page number on each worm. . .it's a great way to get the kids moving if they are having a hard time settling down.

Head, Shoulder, Knees and Toes

This is a super popular "get the wiggles out" song idea!  I let a volunteer come up and arrange these words in any order and then we try to sing Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes following that!  It turns out hilarious and often really hard. . .I recently added the popsicles sticks pictured below and have them draw one and then hold it to that body part as they stand in front and we sing in the order they're chosen.

In Jr. Primary I just challenge them to sing the song backwards. . ."toes, knees, and shoulders, head, shoulders, head, . . .etc."