Focused Activity: My Eternal Family

How it went:
So it went much better than I thought it would. The children, especially the younger children really enjoyed drawing the pictures- they were extremely proud of their artwork and wanted to show it. They got much more into this activity than the older children.
In the end this is what I did:
JR--- we only drew pictures for the first verse. I gave all the children in the same class the same line to draw. Since we have more than 4 classes some classes had the same picture. I tried to give the same to two smaller classes. Then we had one child from each line come forward and hold their pictures up. Everyone else would stand in their own spot while their line was being sung and hold their picture up. Then we switched out the children in the front for other children who drew for that line and sang it again. Since there were no pictures drawn for the chorus-everyone stood, sang and held up their picture. We were able to sing through the song 4 times before singing time was over. The first time through the concept of standing at their seat was lost, however the more times we sang it they understood and had fun, everyone was standing.
SR--- we did both verses. Each child got two pages, one from each verse. I mixed the lines up around the room as much as possible. Although they handled the two pictures well enough, I think I was a little confusing doing both verses at the same time. Having a child come to the front to hold their picture was the most confusing of all- it made for a little disorder. Other than that I was extremely happy with how well it went and how much the children enjoyed it.

• The Idea: To have the children draw their own pictures for each line.
• Preparation: Have each line of the song written/printed on separate pieces of paper. Have enough copies for each child to have one line.
• The Plan: Review the song with the teaching visuals. Then pass out the pages for the children to draw their own pictures. If you feel you have time, talk about what each line means.
• For JR: Each class will have the same line. This way the teachers will not have to explain each different line they have, only help all their children know what the line is.
• For SR: Mix up all the lines.

Give then children about 5 minutes to draw their pictures. While they are coloring have the pianist play “My Eternal Family” over and over.

Don’t waste too much time having the children draw pictures.

Here are some ideas on what to do for the next part

• Have the children stay in their seat and raise their pictures when you get to that line in the song.
• Have one child from each line come to the front and hold their pictures up. Sing it over and over and have different children come up each time to hold their pictures (use each time as an opportunity to have the children put the lines in order).
• Put the pictures, clumped by line (use this as an opportunity to have the children put the lines in order) on the front board/wall. Then sing the song pointing to the set of pictures. If you want to get more children individually involved you could have a child come up to point to the pictures.

The idea of a focused activity is to help cement the song in their memories. It is to give them a second way to associate with the song besides the way you taught the song originally. During this time you want to sing it as many songs as possible.