You will love this fun & simple Jesus Once Was a Little Child First Letters logical activity! Use this fun activity to introduce or review Jesus Once Was a Little Child in singing time this month!
Have the kids piece together phrases of the song to guess the title. Seems pretty simple! The catch? They only get the first letter of each word!
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Jesus Once Was a Little Child First Letters
This First Letters activity is such a great go-to for this song! I enjoy keeping singing time simple, and this activity does the trick! For this activity, arrange the entire song to ONLY include first letters.
Use these letters as a fun code for the lyrics to the song. Arrange the first letters of each word and group the letters together for each phrase of the song.
Can you guess which part of the song this is?
We have the entire song written as “first letters” in the printable later in this post! You can use the first verse, second verse, or both!
This works great as an introduction activity! At the beginning of primary, arrange a few of the first letter phrases on the board and see if the kids can guess what song you’ll be learning!
Then, start teaching the song using this Jesus Once Was a Little Child flipchart! As you teach the song, bring out the corresponding first letter phrases as you teach each section!
If using as a review activity, have the kids sing the song using only the first letter phrases as hints! Check out our extension ideas below for some more fun ways to use this activity!
How to Play:
- Before primary, cut out the first letter word strips. Cut the strips so that each phrase is its own word strip. If you want to make it a little easier, you can cut the longer phrases in half (EX. “But he never got vexed if the game went wrong). If you want to make it a little more challenging, keep these long phrases together!
2. At the beginning of primary, tape the first two word strips to the board.
3. Ask the children if they can guess the song! Have them work together to figure out what the phrases say. If needed, give them a little hint. EX. “Starts with Jesus once.”
4. If they guess the song correctly, bring out a few more of the phrases to see if the children are familiar with the song.
5. Start teaching Jesus Once Was a Little Child using our flipchart. Each time you teach a new section, bring the corresponding first letter phrases.
6. For a fun review, have the kids try singing through the entire song with only the first letter phrases!
4 Extension Ideas:
- Divide the first letter word strips between all the classes. Have each class hold 2-3 phrases and sing only their assigned lines.
- To use this as a review activity, post the first letter phrases around the room in mixed up order. Have the kids work together to find all the phrases and put them in the correct order on the board!
- Choose a random letter of the alphabet. This works better if you choose a letter that comes up in the song. Using the first letter word strips, clap whenever you sing a word that starts with the letter you choose. You could also hum, tap, or do a silly action whenever you sing a word that starts with that letter! There are lots of fun ways to adapt this!
For another fun first letters activity, try this Keep the Commandments First Letters singing time idea next!
Jesus Once Was a Little Child First Letters Printable Lesson Plan & First Letter Phrases
This printable lesson plan includes printable phrases for both verses of the song as well as the chorus!
The second page includes the first letter phrases for the first verse of the song. The second page includes phrases for the chorus, and the second verse is on the third page! Print out the all 3 pages for a fun & challenging primary activity!
I cut out all the phrases, but you can also keep them together if it will help your primary children keep track of the words a little better!
**Grab a bonus colorful version with a crack the code element as part of this month’s INSTANT Primary Singing membership!
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!
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For another fun idea, head over to this Jesus Once Was a Little Child Magic Crayon activity!
How quickly did your primary kids guess the title of the song? Did they enjoy this logical activity?
