Friend July 2020 “I’m a Pioneer Too” Song and Sing-Along Music Video

1. From England to Samoa, From Kenya to Peru, Brave pioneers in every land Helped spread the gospel true.
2. Some pioneers pulled handcarts; Some sailed across the sea. On plains and shores and mountains, they Blazed paths for you and me.
3. They listened to the prophets, Built towns and temples too. Their faith was strong in Jesus Christ. Their courage saw them through.
4. Chorus: The Lord has trails for me to blaze And work for me to do. Each time I bravely walk with faith, I’m a pioneer too!

Friend July 2016 “When I Hear of Pioneer Children”

• When I hear of pioneer children,
• Of trials and courage and faith,
• I want to be willing as they were
• To look to the Lord for my strength.
• I’ll follow the prophets as they did,
• For I want to build Zion too!
• I’ll try to have faith to do hard things
• When that’s what He needs me to do.
• When I hear of pioneer children,
• I want to be strong for my day.
• I’ll try to keep all the commandments
• And be a true Latter-day Saint.
• I’ll stand as a shining example
• That others who follow will see,
• I’ll be like those pioneer children;
• The Lord is depending on me.

Friend July 2017 “Come, Come Ye Saints” Simplified sheet music and music video

Friend July 2019 “To Be a Pioneer” Simplified playing version and music video.

  Pioneer Choosing Activity

Since it was Pioneer Day this week, I decided to have the children sing pioneer songs for music time. I started out with a choosing activity. I used the crickets and seagull idea from Sugar Doodle. I covered the outside of a metal bowl with green tissue paper to make it look like a green hill. I printed off some crickets and a seagull from clip art on Microsoft Word.  I used double sided tape and taped a strong magnet to the back of each cricket. I also wrote the name of a pioneer song on the back of each cricket. I put the crickets on the bowl. I taped one end of a string to the back of the seagull. I taped the other end to a dowel rod. On the back of the seagull’s beak I attached a paper clip.

In Primary I told the story of the crickets and the seagulls. After that I had a child “fly” the seagull to the crickets and pick one up with the beak. We sang what song was on the back. I chose the following songs to put on the back of the crickets:

Pioneer Children Sang as They Walked

For this song I had the senior primary children get up and move over one seat every time they sang the word “walked”. This only works if you have all the children sitting in an even number of rows and in one section with no aisles. The children in the front row will move to the left, the children in the second row will move to the right, and so forth. When a child comes to the end of their row, they will go to the row in front of them. If they are already on the front row, they will move to the back row.

The children loved this activity. The teachers even wanted to participate, which was good because they helped any children that were unsure of what to do. (I had pages of a flip chart made by Jolly Jen posted on the board just incase someone didn’t know the words.)

For junior primary have them slowly walk randomly around the room as they sing the first two lines. Then have them stop and do the following actions: rub their hands together for washing in the stream, hammering action for work, jumping rope for play, making a tent with finger tips pressed together for camped, making a book with open palms together for read, and making praying hands for the word prayed. Then have them start walking again as they sing the last line, but this time have them walk back to their seats. On the last walk word have them sit down.

The Handcart Song

For the handcart song, I used the hand cart racing activity -July Friend 1981 Funstuff.  Since we aren’t supposed to use competition in Primary, I had the teachers do this activity. The kids thought that was funny. I tied the two strings to two empty chairs in the front row. I had the words/flip-chart made by Laurie Lee posted on the board. I told the teachers they could begin racing when we started singing the second half of the song. (The children knew the second half of the song better than the first, so they were able to watch the race and sing at the same time.)

It is really hard to get those pictures to move along the string, so it was funny watching the teachers try all kinds of ways to make them

To Be a Pioneer

For this song I used the pictures found on page 3 of the July 2010 Friend (flip-chart). I posted them on a display board. You could put the do’s and don’ts on different sides. I had a child wear a bonnet to represent a pioneer. She did the actions to the first part of the song such as: pretending to push a handcart, waving goodbye, walking. Then when it came to the part “to be a pioneer” she pointed to herself.

I told the childen they could develop the characteristics of a pioneer such as courage, faith, and working for a cause that is right. I used a boy with a missionary tag to be a modern pioneer. He pointed to himself when we came to the ending part “to be a pioneer”

Fun to Do

We also did Sugardoodle pioneer actions to the song Fun to Do. I had them start off with bouncing on their chair to represent riding in a wagon (Riding in wagon is fun to do). Then I asked if they could think of any other actions pioneers did. I gave them some suggestions. They came up with “getting warm by the fire is fun to do”. They put their hands out like feeling the warmth and then rubbed their hands together. They also wanted to do milking a cow.