Have fun teaching Choose the Right Way Clap instead activity makes it a blast! The kids will clap whenever they see a star in place of singing the words! You’ll engage the kids with this living music, logic, and movement activity in 1 fun lesson!
Choose the Right Way is one of our 2023 New Testament Primary Songs for next year! But, it also ties in nicely with some of the weeks of CFM this year!
You might also like this other fun I Will Be Valiant Clap Instead lesson plan for more ideas! It’s really pumps up the volume and fun in your Primary Singing Time and everyone gets involved. I love how much energy it adds to this song!
Head here to see Choose the Right Way Singing Time Ideas for easy ways to teach this song!
Choose the Right Way
Clap Instead Activity
*Downloads are available at the bottom of the post when signed in!*
How to Play:
Start by Singing through Choose the Right Way before you introduce this activity. You might head over here to grab our Choose the Right Way Flip Chart to help you if introducing this song for the first time.
Then share the posters included here for 1 or both verses. I prefer to work on just 1 verse per week. But you can include whatever verse work best for you. If you’ve already taught this song, they may be ready for all the verses combined!
Ask the kids what the stars represent? (Words, an action, etc) They always come up with really clever answers!
Tell the kids we’re going to clap for each of the stars – our missing words!
Sing and clap through the song.
See if the children can help you fill in the blanks! What’s one word you noticed is missing? Where does it go? You can write in the word, leave it blank and challenge the kids to say it in their mind, or come up with a unique hand action for that newly discovered word! Keep clapping for the rest of the stars, but do your special action any time you get to your discovered word.
Finally, switch and sing and clap only the star words! You can also swap in other actions to add more interaction. Just ask the children to pick an action to represent each of the stars or 2 actions to alternate between the different colored stars.
To Help you Visualize, here’s the Crack the Code:
There’s a * way to
* and be **
It is ** the
* ev’ry *
I am ** the
** of **
They will * me
and * me the *
Extension Ideas:
- Have the kids compete! Divide the room into 2 groups. One group claps on orange and sings the missing blue words. The other side sings the missing orange words, and claps on the blue stars.
- Have the kids try to clap and sing at the same time by the end of the song. Tell them you’ve clapped the words right back into place! Can you sing them while you clap?
- Have the kids come up with an alternative action for the orange stars and another different action for the blue stars. Maybe they can pat, high-5 a partner, stomp, spin, etc.
If your Primary loves this singing time activity, head over next to see our I Will Be Valiant Clap Instead lesson plan!
Choose the Right Way Clap Instead Demo Video
I’ve created this brief demo video to further explain how to use this Clap Instead idea in primary! In this video, I describe some different ways to try Clap Instead with your primary kids in a way that can be successful for both younger and older children!
Just click on the link below to see an example of how to do the pattern as shown in the printable!
–> Choose the Right Way Clap Instead Demo Video <–
Choose the Right Way Clap Instead
Printable Lesson Plan
It’s easy to use this singing time activity with our free printables included here. You’ll find a 3-page printable clap instead pattern that covers the 1st verse and chorus in this free packet.
You’ll find a printable lesson plan, a condensed 1-page version per verse, and the 2nd verse included in the INSTANT Primary Singing packet when Choose the Right Way is the featured song of the month.
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For another super meaningful activity for teaching Choose the Right Way, see how we incorporated this awesome video into singing time!
What other fun twists and alternatives could you try to add variety to this Clap Instead activity?
