Your whole Primary will love rocking along as they sing An Angel Came to Joseph Smith jingle bells in hand. The catchy tune and steady beat (even with the time signature change!) makes this song perfect for pulling out the bells and shaking along with the beat.
*See all 7 An Angel Came to Joseph Smith Singing Time Ideas here for lots of fun ways to teach this song!*
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An Angel Came to Joseph Smith Jingle Bells
This song has a really fun beat that works great for jingling along with different patterns. We did this activity already in both Junior and Senior Primary and the kids absolutely loved it!
I think the Primary Presidency and teachers loved it just as much, they were all beaming with smiles. It really makes this song so cheerful having the bells accompaniment.
I started by singing the song through once without the bells. I told the kids we would get to do a fun activity with this song, but first I wanted to make sure they were ready for the bells and could show me that they knew the words. You can use this to review a couple times through, if needed.
At the time, this game was used to just review a single verse, so they kids knew it pretty well and we were able to quickly move on to adding jingle bells. This would be a fantastic lesson plan for reviewing the entire song, though, and I *might* just pull out the bells and do this lesson plan one more time because we all loved it that much!
These are the jingle bells I use. They work really great and they’re easy to put on. I just wear mine around my palm so I can really quickly slip the bells onto my hand without messing with the velcro. I use the bells every week in nursery, so they’ve been worth the investment for me, and really pretty reasonably priced.
How to Use Jingle Bells to Teach An Angel Came to Joseph Smith
Demonstrate how you want the kids to use the bells by singing the first line of the song. Then show the kids how to hold the bells still on their shoulder so they can listen for directions.
Junior Primary will always have bell ringing, but your Senior Primary should be able to hold theirs still between verses and while you are giving instructions.
Jingle Bell Patterns:
- Ring on each NOTE
- Ring on each WORD
- Ring on each KEYWORD
- Ring on every other PHRASE
We started by following the notes – every time the piano played a new note, we rang our bells. We just swung them from right to left in front of us to easily ring the bells each time.
Next, we switched to ringing only at the beginning of a new word. This was tricky – and the Senior Primary loved the challenge! Words like “Jo-seph” that stretch across 2 notes you’ll only ring on the first part of the word.
From there, we went on to ringing for one phrase, then pausing for the next phrase section, then ringing again, and finally one last pause through the end of the song.
You can also have the kids ring-ring-ring the bells on the keywords through the song to accentuate the strongest words – for example you could use these words from the 1st verse:
- Angel
- Joseph Smith
- ground
- sacred record
- book
Ask the kids what words stand out to them from the song, and write them up on the whiteboard. They love giving their input and personalizing the activity!
For another fun singing time idea using Jingle Bells, head over to this fun lesson plan for He Sent His Son with Jingle Bells!
An Angel Came to Joseph Smith Jingle Bells Printable Song Help
This An Angel Came to Joseph Smith Jingle Bells printable poster is a cute and easy way to help your Primary kids follow along with each of the patterns. It’s just a simple 1-page printable to help you share this activity in a more visual way.
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Next, get in some movement with this fun An Angel Came to Joseph Smith Body Rhythm singing time idea!
What other fun ideas do you have for using Jingle Bells to teach An Angel Came to Joseph Smith?
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