Use this fun Kindness Begins with Me Egg Shakers activity to highlight keywords from the lyrics and discuss working together and helping each other with kindness in your Primary room!
Kindness Begins with Me is a great song to teach to your Primary as you teach the children about being kind and loving like the Savior is.
*** See all Kindness Begins with Me Singing Time Ideas ***
Kindness Begins with me Egg Shakers
Sing through Kindness Begins with Me (flip chart here) once, before introducing this activity.
Ask the children at the end how does our Primary room feel when we’re all having fun together and working together? Do you notice a difference when everyone is being kind and respectful?
Demonstrate one or two of the actions and ask the children what did they notice? I recommend starting with the tap on palm for self and tap on knee for kind.
- When did I tap?
- Why did sometimes I tap on my palm and sometimes on my knee?
- When should we do each?
- Do you want to try it with me?
Pass out egg shakers and try this part of the pattern together with the kids. You may want to try it twice to help them get the pattern down before adding another step.
Next, lets add in the zig-zag pattern for those longer held-out words.
Do you notice how we’re working together and helping each other to learn the pattern, how good our Primary room feels? What is one way we can be kind to in Primary? Take an answer or two, then add the final pattern.
The last sequence to add is a single shake for each additional keyword that doesn’t have a specific action. Keep in mind, that you’ll want to shake just on each word once, not following each note.
Kindness Begins with Me Egg Shaker Pattern:
Tap egg shaker on your palm for any references to self (I, myself, me)
Tap egg shaker on your knee for references to being kind (kind, kindness)
Draw a zig-zag on the words held out and are longer to sing (ev’ryone, see, remember)
Shake once on all the other keywords. Pay close attention to shake on the word, not the note.
Extension Activities:
- Try diving into the full pattern with your Senior Primary first, if you want a challenge.
- Divide your Primary room into 2 or 4 groups, depending on how big your Primary is. Let each group pick which action they will do from the 4 available with each group picking a different action. See if they can follow along ONLY doing their action! Then, switch it up and each group can pick a different action to follow as you sing.
For another fun similar activity, head over to see this A Child’s Prayer Egg Shaker singing time activity!
Kindness Begins with Me Egg Shakers Printable Pattern Chart
This free in-post printable includes a 1-page pattern guide that will make it easy for you to refer to or show on the board to help the children visualize the pattern.
Join INSTANT Primary Singing for extended printables including a 2-page pattern guide, 1/4 and full page pattern cards, and black and white pages. You’ll find these bonus files included when Kindness Begins with Me is the featured song of the month.
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For another fun activity using instruments and manipulatives that you swap with a partner, you’ll love this Kindness Begins with Me Rhythm Partners activity!
What other fun ways will you use this Egg Shakers singing time activity in your Primary room?
