This Sunday I decided to theme singing time around the pioneers. In my opinion, it’s a great time of year to familiarize the kids with the fantastic pioneer songs in the Children’s Songbook regardless if you will or won’t be celebrating Utah’s state holiday on July 24th celebrating the pioneers entrance into the Utah valley. The pioneers are a part of our church’s history and heritage so wherever you live, I’d suggest incorporating the pioneer day songs somehow into your singing time this summer!
I have several pioneer activities that I’ve done throughout the years posted on my blog. You can find all of them HERE and scroll through. My favorite (but also requires a bit of prep) is the Pioneer Day Singing & Sharing Time activity where you make butter, have a pioneer {cake} walk, listen to pioneer stories and more!
It’s been a while since we’ve used our handbells and chimes so I thought I’d dust off my lesson plans for To Be a Pioneer found HERE and Little Pioneer Children found HERE, both of which incorporate the bells/chimes. If you don’t have both bells and chimes, each lesson plan will work with just one or the other.
To simplify, I’ll be using just the handbells. I’ll have these songs on CD with the words posted (see how I do that HERE). We’ll listen to each song on CD, then sing along with the piano maybe twice before pulling out the bells.
If you are unfamiliar with using handbells or chimes in primary, I’d suggest reading through my post HERE entitled “Using Handbells in Primary.” If you have more questions about using handbells or chimes, leave a comment. These are my very favorite prop to use in primary. If you are on the fence about getting them, I can’t recommend them enough!
