Primary Jeopardy

Another favorite game to play with my Primary is Jeopardy.  I use this game to assess what the children know about the songs we have learned.  Even though children can sing a song, they don't necessarily know what the song means and how to apply that knowledge to their life.  So we play a game to find out!

Here is the game board (picture the chalkboard):

Those individual pockets are made to hold 3x5 index cards with the questions on them.

The categories are generic enough that you can do anything with them or make up your own categories to suit whatever goals you may have for your Primary.

Rhythm - I put on it the name of a song and clap that song to the child whose turn it is.  They have to name it.  Or sometimes I do it backwards.  I name the song and the child claps it.

Melody - I hum the melody.  The child names the song.  We accept words as well as titles as a correct answer.

Lyrics defined - I choose a word or phrase from a song.  The child has to tell what it means.  Example:  If the Savior Stood Beside Me - what does the word "nigh" mean?

What comes next? - I sing a phrase from a song.  The child sings what comes after that phrase.

Practical Application - I ask the child to apply a principle from a song to their own life.  Example:  If the song was I am a Child of God I might ask "What do you do on a daily basis that shows me that you know you are a child of God?"  Answer could be "I say my prayers."  "I am nice to other people.", etc.

As always with a game, we have two teams.  I always go back and forth so each team has an equal number of turns.  On this game, we draw names to decide whose turn it is.  I just print out a list of the children's names and put them in two boxes - one for each team.

Primary Baseball

PRIMARY BASEBALL

When I want the kids to really sing well, I like to play Primary Baseball.  It's a great review for songs you are learning.  I am a digital scrapbooker so I use Photoshop Elements to create my people.  If you have access to that program you could leave me a note with your email and I would gladly send you the layered templates.  But you could just use the pictures of the baseball players and paste kids faces onto them.  My kids play this game often enough that when they graduate they ask for their baseball picture!  You could just use the baseball people and write the kids names on them and not worry about faces but if you have the means, the kids love seeing their faces up there.

I will explain how we do it.  You can vary the game to suit your purposes.

We have two teams - mixed up ages so that no one team has an advantage.  The pitcher's mound contains baseballs with the name of a song plus one verse.  Example:  I am a Child of God verse 3.  I often give a hint to remind them which verse it is.  Example:  Rich blessings.

The pieces all have magnetic tape on the back so that they stick to the chalkboard.  The full layout looks like this.  I like to post the criteria right on the board so the kids can see it while we are playing.

I assign the two teams and also the "coaches" for each team.  The coaches are of course the teachers.  Then each team chooses a name for their team.  Then we are ready to play.

We do not play with outs.  We just let the 2 teams take turns so that each team is having equal time singing. So the first person in the line of blue players comes up and chooses a ball from the pitcher's mound.  His whole team must sing that song.   The goal is to get the kids to sing their very best.  That player then moves to the appropriate base using the posted criteria to make that decision.   Then the green team gets a turn.

I choose another adult to be the umpire for the game.  It is important to choose someone who is willing to be discerning in their evaluation.  .

Criteria is based on singing the correct words with quality singing - not loud singing.

1st Base = Everyone singing   Many mistakes on words 

2nd  Base =  Everyone singing  Few mistakes on words 

3rd Base =  Everyone singing  Words are correct - but singing isn't very good.

Home Run  =  Everyone is singing  Words are correct  Enthusiastic and beautiful singing voices!

Here are all the pieces for the game: