This week I wanted to sing through a lot of the songs in the Children’s Songbook on mothers with a fun dress-up activity called “What’s Different About Mother?”. What’s great is this activity can be done with ANY song(s) so feel free to review your program songs or even tweak it so it fits for Father’s Day!
I got some of my ideas for this post from HERE.
The songs we’ll be singing are: Grandmother p. 200, I Often Go Walking p. 202, My Mother Dear p. 203, Mother, Tell Me the Story p. 204, Mother Dear p. 206, Dearest Mother, I Love You p. 206, Mother, I Love You p. 207, The Dearest Names p. 208
It’s important to note that this activity will only be exposing the kids to a variety of new songs (songs that we hardly ever sing and that they probably don’t know). So since they won’t be memorizing or learning the words, the activity will focus on lots of listening to the songs and reading the words if they know how to read.
But that said, you can sing any songs that you like with this activity so feel free to review all of your program songs you’ve learned for the year if need be.
To prepare, bring LOTS of items that moms use like:
- Hat
- Scarf
- Lipstick (the brighter, the better!)
- High heels and tennis shoes
- Broach or pin (do you like my “Mom Off Duty” pin!? I do!!)
- Purse
- Apron
- Rubber gloves
- Hair ribbons/clips/curlers
- Coat
- Jewelry (rings, necklaces, bracelets, etc.)
- Belt
- Cookbook
- Sunglasses
- Car keys
- Wallet/Phone
- Watch
Headphones
What am I missing? Help add to my list by commenting below!
Then you’ll need to find yourself a “mother.” Someone who’s a good sport in your ward (may be the primary president) – or simply dress up yourself! Before primary, put most of the items on! Keep items off that would be good to switch (like a purse for a cookbook, heels for tennis shoes, rubber gloves for gardening gloves or eventually adding lipstick).
Before primary, you’ll want to have a place where you can swap items – either out in the hall, or behind the chalkboard.
For the activity, tell the primary there are LOTS of songs in the songbook about mothers that we don’t regularly sing! Today they will be using their eyes and ears to watch for what’s different in “mother’s” wardrobe as they listen and sing all the Mother’s Day songs in the songbook.
Post all the words like I do HERE:
Play the first song on CD or phone/speaker OR the LDS sing-along app (details HERE) and have the primary sing the song as you (or your “mother”) step into the hall to change something on your wardrobe (choose something more subtle for the older kids and something easier for the younger). If you are the one dressing up, ask for assistance from a presidency member to lead the song for you while you change or even ask a primary child to be a helper.
When you come back into the room, have the primary finish singing the song. Then ask the primary, “What’s different about Mother?” Once guessed, repeat with a new song (optional) and new items. Repeat until all the songs have been sung.
2 thoughts on “What’s Different About Mother?”
"Or simply dress up yourself" LOL! This made me chuckle. Tempting. . . but our Bishop might not like hearing about Brother Stevenson dressing in drag in primary. 🙂
Great lesson plan, though! Thanks for sharing it. (Yes, I got a real mother to help.)
Hi Jared!
Thanks for the good laugh – yeah, probably a good idea to avoid dressing as a drag queen in primary! Haha!
~Camille