Start your year off on the right foot with this simple New Testament Primary Program Outline and Song Picker! It has everything you need to help you map out:
- What songs to teach each month
- A roughly Primary Program outline so you can be filling in the program all year
- Plus a Primary Program Script to help get you started!
- Helps create a printable pianist monthly song list
- Can help keep you and the Primary Presidency on the same page with the goals for the year!
You’ll find below first my suggestions for the year (and how I came to them), songs to teach month by month with 2 months per program song!, and a easy to fill-in New Testament Primary Program outline!
Plus, grab the printable worksheets at the bottom of the post to plan your out outline.
New Testament Suggested Primary Songs
Each month, you’ll pick one song from the list of LDS Primary Songs for the month.
My selections below came from looking at all 4 years of Primary Songs side-by-side (make sure you check out that rotation list, it’s invaluable!)
After pouring over every. single. song. selection across all 4 years and painstakingly trying my best to organize all the suggestions and group them by book of scripture, I divided out all the songs to give you hopefully a well rounded coverage of all of the suggested songs across 4 years.
That will give the children exposure to a huge variety of songs! And you won’t hit next year’s Book of Mormon Primary song list wondering what to pick since you did several of the songs the year before.
Of course, this is only a suggestion as a starting point. You’ll want to use the Spirit as your guide to help you select your songs.
You may also want to consider songs not in the Children’s Songbook, with Primary President and Bishopric approval, as well as you make your plan for the year.
I’ve included several alternate choices below that can be swapped in for any month’s pick.
Suggested Song List:
- January: Come, Follow Me Hymn
- February: Baptism
- March: I’m Trying to Be Like Jesus
- April: Gethsemane
- May: I Am a Child of God
- June: Did Jesus Really Live Again? (Not in Primary Program)
- July: I’ll Walk with You (Not in Primary Program)
- August: I Will Follow God’s Plan
- September: I Know That My Redeemer Lives
- October: The Church of Jesus Christ (Not in Primary Program)
- November: Search, Ponder and Pray (Teach a Christmas Song in November)
- December: Choose the Right Way (Teach a Christmas Song in December)
- Alternate: Tell Me the Stories of Jesus
- Alternate: If the Savior Stood Beside Me
- Alternate: Peace in Christ
- Alternate: The Miracle
See Singing Time Ideas for ALL of the
New Testament Songs by Month here:
2023 New Testament LDS Primary Songs List
Primary Songs to Teach by Month:
This view gives a recommended song list to teach each of your Primary Program songs in 2 different months and include other program songs in the month as well.
This gives you 3 different songs to work on each week using the 5-7-5 method.
It also makes it so your January and February songs aren’t forgotten by the fall!
The 2 songs that follow are the other monthly suggested songs. I like to use these as songs before Primary officially begins while children are coming in or waiting for parent pick-up. It’s nice to include them, if and when you have time, but they’re not my focus songs.
January:
- Come, Follow Me
- Search, Ponder and Pray
- Choose the Right Way
- A Child’s Prayer
- Jesus Once was a Little Child
February:
- Baptism
- I Am a Child of God
- I Will Follow God’s Plan
- He Sent His Son
- The Holy Ghost (Aug)
March:
- I’m Trying to Be Like Jesus
- Come, Follow Me
- I Know That My Redeemer Lives
- Tell Me the Stories of Jesus
- Did You Think to Pray?
April:
- Gethsemane
- I Will Follow God’s Plan
- Search, Ponder and Pray
- Faith
- I Feel My Savior’s Love
May:
- I Am a Child of God
- Baptism
- Choose the Right Way
- Families Can Be Together Forever
- Keep the Commandments
June:
- Did Jesus Really Live Again? (Not in PP)
- Gethsemane
- I’m Trying to Be Like Jesus
- Love One Another
- Kindness Begins with Me
July:
- I’ll Walk with You (Not in PP)
- I Know That My Redeemer Lives
- Search, Ponder and Pray
- Stand for the Right
- I’ll Walk With You
August:
- 5 mins: Activity with a song that needs review
- 15 mins: Program Songs Review Activity
- When I Am Baptized
- The Lord Gave Me a Temple
Easy Fill-in-the-Blank
New Testament Primary Program Outline
Primary President Introduction
Sing: I’m Trying to Be Like Jesus
Sunbeams – “I can be like Jesus by…”
Sing: Come, Follow Me
CTR 5 – “I can Follow the Savior by….”
Sing: Choose the Right Way
Valiant 9 – “I can choose to be obedient by…”
Assign a 1 minute talk on Obedience
Sing: Search, Ponder and Pray
Valiant 8 – “Studying the Savior’s life taught me…”
Sing: Baptism (Primary child playing the piano)
Valiant 7 – “My baptism was special to me because…”
Assign a 1-minute talk about Baptism
Sing: I Will Follow God’s Plan
CTR 6 – “Following God’s plan makes me happy because…”
Sing: Gethsemane
Valiant 10 – “The Atonement makes an impact on my life by…”
Assign a 1-minute talk on the Atonement
Sing: I Am a Child of God
CTR 4 – “I know I am a Child of God because…”
Sing: Did Jesus Really Live Again?
Closing remarks from Bishop
Sing: I Know That My Redeemer Lives (As Closing Hymn with Congregation)
New Testament Primary Year Outline Printable
All of this information in organized into a helpful single page printable that you can reference while coming up with your own singing time plan and outline for the year!
I’ve also included 2 different ready-to-fill outlines that you can print and write in your song choices and which month to teach each song. One has help guidelines for when to teach each song and the second style is completely flexible for your needs.
You might start with my outline and one of the blank formats side-by-side as you pick out your songs and fill in your personalized plan for the year!
NEW: A rough draft script you can follow with a scripture and prompt for 10 of this year’s songs!
I have a ready to go Primary Program Script & Outline for you included in the September New Testament INSTANT Primary Singing membership! It includes a 10-song outline including my recommended song list, plus a prompt and scripture for all of the Come Follow Me songs from this year’s list! It’s easy to plug and play and use my format to create your own perfect Primary Program! You can also pick-up the expanded script in my shop here.
To access the free in-post printables for this post, you’ll just need to create a free account or login with the Grow.me tool. Then, confirm by email and refresh the page and ALL my free printables will automatically unlock in every post!
For more information on why I use a content lock or how to create your account, you can see the FAQ page here.
Head over to the 2023 LDS Primary Songs for New Testament list to find all of our singing time ideas for every song this year to help you make the most of the year!
Which songs will you include as part of your New Testament Program Outline for the year?
