Your logical thinkers will have a blast with this fun Born to Bring Us Joy First Letters review idea! As you practice this sweet Christmas song together, solve this puzzle that includes only letters and emojis!
Born to Bring Us Joy First Letters
If you’ve never used a first letter puzzle in singing time before, the basic idea is to write only the first letter of each word on the board. Throughout singing time, the goal is to crack the code and figure out what the letters mean.
This puzzle has an fun twist and includes some emojis! I’ve placed some emojis throughout the first letter puzzle to replace a few words in the song. These visuals can serve as simple clues to help the kids solve the puzzle!
In this post, you’ll find a full outline of the first letter puzzle, as well as a printable version that includes 2 pages for the verse and 1 page for the chorus. Let’s jump in!
Before introducing this puzzle, sing through the first verse and chorus of Born to Bring Us Joy (flip chart & lyrics here).
Then, tape the first page of the first letters puzzle to the board. This doesn’t make any sense at all! What do these letters mean? What do the emojis mean?
Sing through the song again, having the kids pay close attention to the words. Can anyone figure out what these letters and pictures mean?
Take a few guesses, singing through the song to test out your ideas. Did you figure out that each letter represents one word in the song? How about the pictures?
Once the kids have figured out the pattern, tape up the rest of the first letters puzzle and work together to solve for the first letters and emojis. Sing through the song a few more times, now following along with your first letter helps.
You can choose to have the kids come up and write each word below its first letter/emoji or simply use the letters as reminders for the lyrics. Another way to incorporate your first letter puzzle is to have a volunteer come up and point to each letter or picture as you sing through the song.
As you can imagine, there are lots of ways to adapt this activity! I’ve included 4 additional ways to play this first letters game below. What other fun adaptations can you think of?
First Letters & Emojis Key:
Verse:
- T😇E T T☁️ = The angels echoed through the sky
- T🌙T J W B = The night that Jesus was born
- T 🗣️T 🌏 = To tell the world
- T L H C = The Lord has come
- B T B U 😊 = Born to bring us joy
- T S👂T S T🌙= The shepherds, hearing their song that night
- C 🏃F B H = Came running from Bethlehem’s hills
- T K B T B👦 = To kneel before the baby boy
- B T B U 😊 = Born to bring us joy
Chorus:
- S 😊😊😊 T T 🌏= Singing, “Joy! Joy! Joy to the world”
- F J O S I B = For Jesus our Savior is born!
- 😊😊😊 T T 🌏 = Joy! Joy! Joy to the word!
- H I B T B U 😊 = He is born to bring us joy!
Extension Activities:
- Cut out each line of first letters and emojis and arrange them randomly on the board. Work together to put the song in order! Sing through the song to help you figure out where all the letters and emojis fit.
- Split the class into 3 groups and assign each group to one of the pages of the first letter puzzle. Have each group figure out which part of the song they have and sing along with only their section as you sing! Then, switch and try singing a different part of the song.
- Choose one page to turn over at a time. See if you can remember the lyrics without any first letter or picture helps! Continue turning pages until you must sing the entire verse memorized!
- Randomly choose a few letters of the alphabet. Sing only words that start with that letter! Or, split the class into groups and assign each group a few letters of the puzzle. This makes for a fun “popcorn” style singing game!
For another fun similar logical activity, head over to see this Have I Done Any Good First Letters singing time activity!
Born to Bring Us Joy First Letters Printable Song Helps
This free in-post printable includes 3 pages of first letter and emoji phrases for the first verse and chorus of this Christmas song. Just print out all 3 pages and cut out into strips or leave as is!
Join INSTANT Primary Singing for extended printables including first letter puzzles for the entire song in 3 sizes! You’ll find these bonus files included when Born to Bring Us Joy is the featured song of the month.
Get more out of singing time with the INSTANT Primary Singing membership that includes printable lesson plans, tons of extended printables and an ad-free experience for each featured song of the month, or get immediate access to the entire song list for the year!
Learn more about INSTANT Primary Singing membership options here!
Have questions or need more help, see this FAQ page here.
Check out this Born to Bring Us Joy Action Words activity for another great way to review this song in primary!
I’d love to hear how you used this first letters singing time activity in your Primary room! How did it go?
