Mother Dear

Our primary will be singing Mother Dear, a simple song for Mother’s Day in sacrament meeting. We will be using the handbells when we sing (which is completely optional). Our primary LOVES the handbells and I’m trying to use them more and more. If you are unfamiliar with the bells, check out my post HERE (which includes where to purchase them).

To teach this song (this activity will also work with ANY Mother’s Day song if you omit the bells), I am going to simply write the words on the chalkboard (all verses). I’ll pass out handbells to the kids and we’ll sing and ring through the song. After each time we sing all 3 verses, I’ll have teachers pick a good singer from their class to come erase a word and draw a picture of their mother’s smiling face in its place (so about 3-4 kids erasing/drawing at a time). Repeating until every child has had a turn to erase a word and draw a picture and everyone has had a turn with the bells. Hopefully we’ll have the entire song erased by the end and lots of smiling mothers 🙂

If you are concerned about non-readers, they will still enjoy erasing and drawing on the chalkboard! Make sure to have the teachers sing along or play the song on CD so the kids can listen to the words and do their best to sing along. The younger kids learn best by repetition and you’ll definitely get LOTS of repetition with this activity!

You can access my bell chart below. This note chart plays the alto part (not the melody!). When we play in sacrament meeting, I’ll have my bell choir play through the entire song as an introduction with the piano.

You can also try to ask these discussion questions (this would probably would be best if you are omitting the bells):

Verse One:

What 2 words describe Mother’s face? [happy, smiling]
Mother’s happy, smiling face makes home what kind of place? [lovely]

Verse Two:

What 2 words describe mother’s eyes? [lovely, shining]
What are mother’s eyes like? [stars that twinkle]

Verse Three:

What will I try all day to do? [please our Heavenly Father]
Why will I try to please Heavenly Father? [to show him that I’m so glad he gave me you]

Variation: Place the flip chart HERE of the song on the chalkboard and have the kids remove a page and draw a picture of their mom on the chalkboard instead. This would work best with a small primary.

You can also scroll through all of my Mother’s Day lesson plan ideas HERE.