Secret Songs Singing Time

A couple of months ago, I came up with a fun idea with the help of Martha Stewart. Where would we be without Martha? She made some fun Save The Date Wedding Cards that were encrypted with red squiggle.

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It was easy to adapt them for sharing time. I downloaded the red squiggle graphic from Martha and made different backgrounds in Photoshop. You could very easily do this with different songs. The key is to write the words in a font that is outlined, not solid letters. They must typed in cyan ink and I found that you might need to reduce the opacity of the words so they aren't so visible through the red.

Can you see the words?

Each secret message was put in a manila envelope and hidden under a few chairs throughout the room.

Now you need a magic magnifying glass. Martha has sources for special decoder glasses, but you could also use red acetate (If you know where to find it. I couldn't). I had Kinkos (not their real name anymore, I know) print a overhead projector film with solid red. It worked well enough for Primary, but it had to be flat against the paper to see the words. Acetate lets you see them from afar.

You could use this as an analogy for scripture study, prayer, prophecy, the Holy Ghost. Whatever. Or it can just be a fun game.

You can download my game pieces here. The songs included are I Hope They Call Me On A Mission, Once There Was a Snowman, I am a Child of God, Families Can Be Together Forever, A Child's Prayer, Stand For The Right. Just crop at the lines and you're set!

Secret Songs Page 1
Secret Songs Page 2
Secret Songs Page 3

Preparing for Week One - Praise To The Man

Saturday night I was called to be the Primary Chorister. This is what happens when you tell a member of the Bishopric that you absolutely LOVE your calling in the Relief Society. At least that's what I did and I ended up here with no musical abilities. I am pretty nervous, but I'm also really excited to get creative and have fun with my new calling.

I probably couldn't have started with a more difficult song to teach. Praise to the Man is a beautiful song, but it has a lot of really big words, even for ME! Doing a bit of research on it and found out that the tune was written from the song Scotland The Brave. I think I've heard this played at pretty much every 4th of July Parade I've ever been to and I've never associated it with the hymn Praise To The Man.

I think I'm going to start by defining the more difficult words and do a poster with pictures. I will report back on Monday with the results.

What has worked best for you as a Primary Chorister? Do you have an excellent idea? I want to feature your idea or blog here if you have something fantastic you have to share with the rest of the world. Leave me a comment and let's chat!