Mothers: Activities & Games

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Mother’s Day

Friend October 2021 “For Little Friends” Sam is making a necklace for his mom. Can you figure out the pattern? Which color should the next bead be?

Friend May 2020 “Mother’s Day Card” Make a pop up umbrella card.

Friend May 2019 “Funstuff: Mother’s Day Wreath” Write things you love about your mom on paper hearts, and then follow the directions and make a wreath with the hearts.

Friend May 1987
Friend May 1987 1of2
Friend May 1987
Friend May 1987 2of2

Mother, Tell Me the Story

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Mother, Tell Me the Story  – pg. 204

Singing in sacrament meeting for Mother’s Day we put two songs together. We sang the first part of “Mother I Love You“, and then we sang “Mother Tell Me the Story”.  At the end of that we sang the last part of “Mother I Love You” (Mother I love you, I love you, I do). I had the women teachers and primary leaders sing the mother’s part in the song, and I asked a violinist to play their part as they sang.  We also did the combination of the mother’s and the children’s parts. It was beautiful.

Teaching the Song:

I used a visual aid idea that I saw several places on the Internet – I made the song into a story book. The children sang the song a couple of times as I showed them each page, then we started our memorizing activity. I had put the words on the pages with double-sided removable tape so I could remove them. I put black ribbons as bookmarks in-between each page. I had a child come up and choose a bookmark from the closed book. We opened the book to that page and I took the words off that page. They sang the song again. We did this until they had the song memorized.

Assembly:

I used four half sheets of poster board folded in half to make the book. After attaching the printed words and pictures, I laid the pages flat and poked  two holes through the middle of all the pages, one towards the top of the pages and one towards the bottom. I put a shoe lace through the holes and tied the pages together.  I taped the ends of the six black bookmark ribbons to the last page (which was blank)  and then draped each ribbon bookmark in-between a page.

I gave copies of the song to the teachers after the children learned their part, and then we practiced everybody’s parts together. I let the teachers take the words home to memorize them.

Note: The pictures are from Microsoft Word Clipart and the Friend Magazine.


Blooming Flower Song Review Idea

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Note: I used this idea for Mother’s Day but it could be used with spring, summer, or fall flowers for reviewing songs.

Tell the children they are going to review the songs they will be singing in Sacrament Meeting for Mother’s Day. Show them the flowers and tell them you brought flowers as a visual aid because mothers love getting flowers on Mother’s Day. Point out that the flowers are very pretty, but they aren’t blooming yet or as pretty as they could be. They are like the Mother’s Day songs, they are beautiful but still need a little work. Explain that the flowers will take notice and “bloom” when the children sing their songs with amazing projection, presentation, and word recall.

Preparation

  • Items needed: inexpensive silk flowers that have petals that can fold up, green twine or thin green ribbon, a glue gun, decorative ribbon, a small rubber band, clear tape, and 2×3 Ziploc type baggies (from craft store). (If this item is not available you can make the small baggies using larger Ziploc baggies. Cut a piece of plastic four inches by three inches. Fold it over and tape together the bottom and side with clear tape.)
  • The flowers need to be on their own stem. If your silk flowers came in a bunch, cut the bottom of each stem with wire cutters. Remove the leaves from the stems. Put one flower in each baggie by poking the stem through the bottom of the small baggie and pulling the baggie up over the flower (you may wish to cut the zip part of the baggie off first).
  • Cut a piece of twine for each flower. The twine should be a little longer than the stem. Tie the top of the twine around the bottom of the baggie and then put a piece of clear tape around the tied section. The rest of the twine should hang down the stem. Do this with each flower. Hot glue some of the leaves to the bottom of the baggie where the twine is tied and taped. Gather the flowers into a bunch and put a rubber band around them about two inches down from the flowers. Tie a decorative ribbon around the rubber band.

Presentation

Pull down on a string and the baggie will be pulled off a flower and the flower will “bloom”.  Show the children the top of the flowers when pulling the string. (The above pictures don’t do the effect justice. It is really fun and amazing when the flowers “bloom”.)

Note: The above flowers came in a bunch for a dollar at Dollar Tree, but I think it would be more fun if all the flowers were different. The children would look forward to seeing what each one looks like when they open.


Mother I Love You

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Mother I Love You – Pg 207

Preparation

  • Items needed: ten clothes pins, ten strips of cardstock to cover each set of words, double-sided removable tape.
  • Print the colored hearts (or print the heart outlines onto purple and red colored paper). Cut out the hearts. Glue or tape a heart to the bottom of each clothes pin.
  • Print the song pages. Attach two heart clothes pins to the left side of each song page. Put the red on top and the purple on the bottom to start off.
  • Optional: Attach each song page to a sheet of colored construction paper. Or trim the pages, attach them to cardstock, and put them in page protectors.

Presentation

Introduce the song words to the children as you put each song page on the board. Have the children sing the song. (You may want to sing only a couple of pages at a time with junior primary, and then put it all together.)

Point out and show the heart clothes pins to the children. Assign one of the clothes pin colors to each side of the room. Explain that the children will only sing the lines that their color of clothes pin is pointing to. Have them sing the song. Afterwards have two children go to the board and mix up the clothes pins. They can put either color on any line. Some pages may have two of the same color. Have the children sing the song again, only singing the lines that their color is pointing to.

Have two more children mix up the clothes pins again. After they are done, cover up some of the words using the cardstock strips and double-sided tape. Have them sing the song again and see if they can remember the lines that are covered up. Continue in this manner, mixing up the heart clothes pins and covering up words, until all the words are covered up. This may be a review for senior primary so more words may need to be covered up at a time.

Another idea would be to change who sings what by assigning the colors to certain groups such as boys and girls, specific classes, blue eyed children and brown eyed children, etc.

Note: The song pages are a combination of a couple of flipcharts from Sugardoodle. Thank you to those ladies for the help.


Crying Mother Song Review

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Crying Mother Song Review –
Mother’s Day
This week we are reviewing the Mother’s Day songs the children have learned, and I am using the Crying Mother idea. I have seen the idea on several sites. Thank you to whoever originally thought of it. It is great!
Preparation
  • Items needed: a half a sheet of foam board- 15X20 inches,  a small 4X6 piece of foam board, two sheets of color paper, two water guns (or squirt bottles) with long tips on their nose, a glue gun, sticky tack, a black sharpie marker, and an easel from the meetinghouse library
  • Print the picture of the mother. Cut out the sign that says “Mother’s Day”. Cut out the insides of each eye on the picture of the mother, all the way to the edges.  Laminate the two sheets of colored paper, the sign that says “Mother’s Day, and the picture of the mother. Very carefully cut out the middle of the plastic part of the eyes. Do not cut into the printed paper part of the eye or the ink will bleed when you squirt water through the eye. Note: You may be able to use clear contact paper instead of lamination. I haven’t tried it, so I don’t know if it will keep a good enough seal so the ink won’t bleed.
  • Hot glue the two sheets of colored paper onto the middle of the foam board. Place the picture of the mother on the colored paper where you wish it go. With a pin, poke a hole through the cut out part of each eye, all the way through the foam board. Hot glue the 4X6 piece of foam board over the pin holes on the back of the foam board. Once again poke a pin through each eye all the way through the second sheet of foam board. With a knife, carve out a hole (where each pin hole is) through both sheets of foam board. The holes should be the size of the tip of the water gun (or squirt bottle).  Cut a small hole in each piece of colored paper where the pin prick is. Hot glue the picture of the mother onto the colored papers with the holes lining up with the holes in the eyes. With the black sharpie, color in the eye and color the tip of each water gun/squirt bottle.
  • Fill each water gun/squirt bottle, and coat the tips with a ring of sticky tack. Push the water gun/squirt bottle tips all the way into the holes on the back of the foam board. The sticky tack should hold the water guns in place but also allow you to take each out to refill. Try out the water guns/squirt bottles to make sure they will squirt through the holes, and adjust if needed.
Presentation
Show the children the picture of the mother. Put it on an easel  Be careful so the children don’t see the water guns/squirt bottles. Ask the children what day it is. (Mother’s Day)  Using sticky tack, attach the Mother’s Day sign to the bottom of the picture.  Remind the children they are going to sing to their mothers in Sacrament Meeting.
  • Ask, “Did you know that it makes some mothers cry to hear their children sing Mother’s Day songs?”

 

Explain to the children that today they are going to practice the Mother’s Day songs and try to sing them so beautifully that they will make a mother in the audience cry.
When they sing a song wonderfully, reach around the picture and squirt one of the squirt guns. Point it out and exclaim that they made a mother cry because of their beautiful singing.  It will surprise the children and get them excited.
Carry the picture around the room as they continue practice singing the songs. Explain that when someone is singing particularly good it will make the mother cry again.
Resource: Mother picture – Nursery Manual

Teach Me to Walk in the Light – Mother’s Day Song

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Teach Me to Walk in the Light (3rd verse)

Mother’s Day

Last year I used the last verse of “Teach Me to Walk in the Light”  and the song “Teacher/Mother Do You Love Me”  for the Mother’s Day Primary songs in sacrament meeting. I exchanged the word “guidance  for the word “mothers” in this verse to help it go with the Mother’s Day theme.

Preparation

  • Print the song pages. Cut out the four word cards and attach them to Popsicle sticks. Cut out the words “songs of delight” and tape it to the front of a hymn book.

 

Presentation

Explain that the verse starts out like a prayer.

  • Who are we talking to when we pray? (Heavenly Father) After we address our Heavenly Father what do we do in our prayers? (We thank him.) So the song starts out with “Father in Heaven we thank thee this day.” (Put this song page on the board.)

 

Point out that we use the same type of prayer language in this verse as we do in our prayers. Ask if anyone can identify the special word we used to address Heavenly Father. (Thee)

  • What are we going to thank Heavenly Father for in this song? Hint- who will we be singing this song to? (For our loving mothers.) Ask the children if they remember the part in the chorus of “Mother Do You Love Me” were it talks about a mother’s example and teachings helping show them the way to be like Jesus. Explain that in this song we are thanking Heavenly Father for loving mothers who show us the way. So the next part of the song is “For loving mothers to show us the way”. (Put this song page on the board.)
  • What are we going to do to show are gratitude for our mothers this next week in sacrament meeting? (We are singing to them.) We also show are gratitude to our Heavenly Father for all he does for us by singing songs each Sunday that honor and praise him.
  • How does Heavenly Father feel when we sing these songs to him? (delighted)  The next part of the song is “grateful we praise thee with songs of delight”. (Put this song page on the board.)

 

In the song “Mother Do You Love Me” it talks about our Savior’s love lighting the path home. The Savior shows us the way back to our Heavenly Father. In “Teach Me to Walk in the Light” we end with saying “gladly, gladly we’ll walk in the light”. Which means we will gladly do the things Jesus has taught us to do. (Put this song page on the board.)

Have the children sing the verse. (You may wish break it down and sing a line at a time with junior Primary.)

Memorizing the Verse

To help the children remember the words, have a few volunteers act it out.

“Father in Heaven we thank thee this day” – Have a child kneel as if praying. (You may wish to put two chairs together so the child can kneel on the chairs and be seen easier.)

“For loving mothers to show us the way” – Have a mother hug her child and show the child the way by pointing to a picture of Jesus.

“Grateful we praise thee with songs of delight” – Have a child hold a hymn book with the words “songs of delight” taped to the cover.

Gladly, gladly we’ll walk in the light” – Have a child hold a flashlight or lantern and then walk in the light it casts. Explain that the light of a flashlight shows us the way to go in the dark. The words “walk in the light” means doing the things Jesus has taught because he shows us the way to our heavenly home.

Temporarily take the song pages off the board, and show the children the individual word cards. Have the children tell which acted out part each word card goes with. Review the words to each part as the word cards are placed. Have the actor hold up their word card during their part.

Put the song pages back on the board and have the children sing the verse again. Point to specific actors as the children sing their part.

Remove a song page and the child acting out that part, and sing the verse again. Continue removing pages and actors until the verse is memorized.


Teacher/Mother Do You Love Me – Mother’s Day Song

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Teacher/Mother Do You Love Me

Mother’s Day

Last year we did two songs for the Mother’s Day sacrament meeting, and they turned out beautifully, so I thought I would share them with you. The first one we did was a modified version of “Teacher Do You Love Me”.  We changed the lines to “Mother Do You Love Me”.  I asked a mother and daughter to sing the main lines, and then I had the primary children join them in the chorus. I changed a few things, because I wanted the daughter to sing the questions and the mother to sing the answers each time before singing the chorus. I included a copy of how we adjusted the lines.

Preparation

  • Print the visual aid pages and modified music pages.
  • Print the small review flipchart onto white cardstock. Cut out the pages and stack them in the correct order. Punch a hole in the top middle of each page, and connect the pages together with a hinged metal ring or a string tied into a loop.

 

Presentation

I explained to the children that the song starts out with a child asking her mother if she will love her no matter what she does. After the mother answers, we start the chorus by singing to the mothers – “I need your love, I need your light”. (Post these song pages on the board.)

  • What does I need your light mean? A light in the darkness can help someone safely find their way, like a lighthouse does for ships. A mother’s light is her righteous example to her children. She shows her children the right way to go by her example and teachings.

 

The next part says that a mother’s righteous example and teachings will show her children how to be like Jesus. Jesus is who we are supposed to strive to be like.  (Post the song page “to show me how to be like Jesus” on the board.)

The next line is “The Savior’s love will light the path.” (Post this song page on the board.) The Savior loves us and has shown us the way to go by his example and teachings. If we follow the Savior’s example we will be led safely back to our home with our Heavenly Father. (Post the song page “to lead me safely home” on the board.)

(Have senior Primary sing the entire chorus at this point.) (Have junior Primary go over the words again, and then have them sing half of the chorus at a time.)

I tested the children to see how well they were paying attention. I took down the visual aid pages and asked the following questions:

  • What are the two things the song says we need from our mothers? (love and light)
  • Which comes first in the song? (love)
  • What will our mother’s love and light show us? ( How to be like Jesus)
  • The saviors what, will light what? (love, the path)
  • And lead me where? (safely home)  Point out that the song doesn’t just say “will lead me home”, it says “safely home”. There are many spiritual dangers that can prevent us from returning home to our Heavenly Father, but if we listen to our mothers and try to be like Jesus we will return safely home to our Father in Heaven.

 

Have the children sing the chorus again. Go over any areas they have difficulty with, and then have them sing the chorus once more. (If needed put the song pictures on the board once again, and have the children choose two at a time to take down after each time they sing the song.)

  • After the children learned the chorus, we practiced the song with the mother and daughter so the Primary children would know when they were supposed to come in. Before starting I explained that they would sing the chorus two times, each time after the mother sings. I also explained that the second time they sing the chorus, the words in the last line change slightly. Instead of singing the word me, the word becomes us. The notes of certain words are also held longer and are more drawn out at the end. (You may wish to show them how this sounds.)

 

Review

I used the small flipchart to review the song the following week. The red pages had the first half of the words to each line on them. The children had to tell me what the remaining words were to each line. I flipped the page for them to check and see if they were right.

The second song we learned was the last verse of “Teach Me to Walk in the Light”.