Children's Singing Time Game: Tic Tac Toe!



I was in charge of our Primary Singing time at church a few weeks ago and decided to play a simple game of tic-tac-toe to help us practice a song. It was so easy to put together, the kids had fun, and we got a good practice on one of my favorite songs!

Supplies:



Prep Work:
  1. Draw an X on a piece of red construction paper. Cut it out and trace 5 more onto more red paper.
  2. Draw an O on a piece of blue construction paper and do the same thing.
  3. After they're all cut out, put them in a bag with some tape and chalk and you're all ready to go!

Singing Time!


I wanted to practice the song, "My Heavenly Father Loves Me" (Children's Songbook, pg.   ). I think kids learn songs well when they sing them over and over. This game was a way to sing the song over and over and not get bored because we had a fun game going on at the same time!

First, I drew a tic-tac-toe grid on the chalkboard, and taped up the X's on one side of it, and the O's on the other side. 
I split the kids into 2 groups: Team X and Team O.


Here's how it worked with the younger kids 
(Jr. Primary, ages 3-8).
The younger kids don't know this song very well, and the song is kind of long, so I chose to break it up into parts. I sang the first 1-2 lines of the song, and then had Team X repeat those lines. Then I did the same thing with Team O. So the kids got to hear and/or sing the same line 4 times. Repetition is key. :)

After both teams heard and sang that line, then I chose 1 person from each team to come up and place an X and O on the board. Then we went onto the next line, and so on.

It took about 4-6 turns before one of the teams had won. At the end we sang the song all the way through.
We even had enough time to play another round!

*Note: A few of the younger kids are a little bit more sensitive to winning and losing, so I made sure to have each team turn to the other and say "good job" to show how to be a good sport. :) Luckily for us, both teams each won a round so everyone was happy. 



Here's how it worked with the older kids 
(Sr. Primary, ages 8-11)

The older kids know this song pretty well. They even know the second verse!
So instead of the repetition, I played a fill in the blank game with each team.

I went through the song in order and said a line to the song. Wherever I stopped the line, they had to tell me what the next word was. 
For example,
"Whenever I hear the song of a _______,"
(the answer is BIRD)

After each team got a chance to fill in a blank, I chose 1 person from each team to come put an X and O on the board. Then I did it all again.
When the game ended, we sang the whole song all the way through. :)

Again, we had enough time to play another round, and AGAIN, both teams each won one round.
Hooray for Singing Time!



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4 comments:

Winona said...

Thank you...especially for the Junior and Senior suggestions! <3

eLLe said...

I played the Tic Tac Toe game to help the children learn The Lord Gave Me a Temple and it really motivated them! Thank you for this great idea!

Cherness said...

Thank you for such a fun and simple idea! It's people like you that make primary so fun and memorable!! - Cheryl, St. George, UT

Stefanie said...

Such a fun idea and easy prep. Since tomorrow is July 1 (Canada Day) and I spent part of my childhood in Canada, I am going to replace the Xs and Os with US Flags and Canadian Flags. Thank you for sharing.

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