Singing Time!

I want to keep track of a few of my singing time ideas somewhere I won't lose them and be able to reference them quickly if I need more ideas in the future, so this blog is getting another post!

To get them reverent when things get a little crazy:
Say, "1...2...3 Show me Reverent!" The first kids to fold their arms and sit quietly "win."

Beginning of the New Year, have kids write down their favorite songs and make a singing time "goal" to learn every child's new song.

Have a "friend" come to visit (I used a stuffed penguin) who's heard what great singers the kids are. As the kids sing, they pass around the friend and he/she/it listens to them sing. At the end of the song, the child holding the friend gets to say if the friend thinks the kids did a good job by nodding the friends head, or a bad job by shaking the friend's head.

Wake up the snowman and get him dressed by singing really well using my grandma's snowman and cut outs.

Name that tune: the pianist plays a few notes and the kids try to guess the song.

Learn songs in different languages:
Sing the "Hello Song" with different languages saying hello.
Learn "I Am A Child of God" in Japanese
Learn the songs in sign language.
Learn the birthday languages song.

Teach the different verses of favorite songs.

I AM A CHILD OF GOD 2013 theme ideas:
Learn all 4 verses
Learn the descant
Japanese

Chore Wheel

Here's a successful chore method we've used:

Each day, everyone is in charge of their bedroom and one other room of the house. They don't have to clean the entire room themselves, but they have to make sure the room gets clean. One of the days is a free day where you're only in charge of your bedroom.We have two rules: no TV until the chores are done, and if someone asks you to clean up your things out of the room they are in charge of you have to do it nicely and quickly, or you don't earn your smiley face for the day.

If, at the end of the day, the room you are in charge of is clean and you have been nice about helping in the other rooms, you get a smiley face. (Adelyn wanted to do stars, so I let her.) If you've been extra helpful and wonderful, you get double smiley's. Otherwise, frowny face.

If you have earned five smiley faces by Saturday, you get to pick out of the reward basket.
Key to making this work: Every week, the reward basket has at least a couple different things in it. It keeps the kids excited about being surprised.

Behavior Dino

Here is one system I've used successfully for good behavior. We have a Dinosaur Tracks museum near our house that we have wanted to visit. I decided to use this to my advantage and printed off a couple dinosaur pictures online. I cut the top piece into puzzle-shape pieces and taped them over the bottom picture. When the kids were really nice or helpful or unselfish, they got to take a piece off the dinosaur picture. (Yes, the bottom picture sometimes ripped a little, but oh well.) Once the picture was uncovered, we went to the Dinosaur museum and had a lot of fun.

If you're into negative reinforement, you could tape pieces back on when children misbehave. For my kids, I have found it works better to separate positive and negative disciplining tools, however.

Next, we'll do Jumping Jacks or swimming at the rec center or whatever is most motivational for the munchkins.

Clean Up, Clean Up, Everybody Everywhere!

Here are some good ideas to get the kids excited about cleaning up their things around the house.

Learning Methods:

• Choose a letter of the alphabet, and pick up things that start with that letter. eg: B- ball, blanket, bear, etc. (Make it harder: Use the ending or middle letters of the word.)
• Say the number of your address and pick up that many items. eg: If your address 135 N Sycamore Lane, you would put away 1 thing, then 3 things, then 5 things. This also works well with phone numbers.
• Play I Spy. Children and parents take turns describing objects and other parents/children race to figure out and put away the item.
• Code game (for older kids). Write up the names of items the child needs to put away, omitting some letters from the word and writing them below the word. The child has to figure out where the missing letters go and then put the item away to get their next code. eg: The child gets a piece of paper that has s_o_s with the letters h and e written below. They have to pick up their shoes and then get their next code from you.

Fun Methods:

• Mailman/Bus Stop/Train Stop delivery game. Get a laundry basket and kids take turns being mailman or driver. Kids load up basket in one room, then deliver or drop off items wherever they belong. My kids like the train one because they love hollering, "All Aboard!" and making the train noises.
• Crazy Car game. Everyone zooms around like crazy race cars to put away things. This one is also fun to make noises with.
• Mean Witch/Evil Villain game. Mom pretends to be a mean witch that will capture all the toys/clothes/whatever and put them in her poisonous potion. Kids have to grab and put things away before the mean witch catches them.
• Super Hero game. Kids are super heroes and they have to rescue the Living Room/Bedroom town before the clutter takes over. They choose a super power and use it to defeat the clutter. eg: super speed power cleans very quickly, invisible power makes clutter disappear to where it belongs, etc.
• Secret Mission game. The kids are spies who each have a secret mission assigned by the chief agent (mom). They have a code word, and when their secret mission is done, they say the code word and get a new secret mission. eg: (Spoken in secret tones) Agent A, your secret mission is to pick up all the markers and put them in the art drawer. Do you choose to complete this mission? Your code word is rainbow bright. Good luck, Agent A.
• Musical Cleaning. Turn on some music and clean fast when it's a fast song, or slow when it's a slow song. You can also take turns manning the music and turn it off and on. When it's off, cleaners freeze, when the music is on, cleaners clean.

I also read a tip somewhere to tell the kids to put things "in their homes." This helps the kids to envision putting things where they actually belong. Saying "put it away" can mean put it anywhere out of immediate sight.