During the month of March, I’ll be teaching Love One Another in primary singing time. With only one verse, this song can be a simple, but beautiful way to teach children about love.
The phrases in this song are arranged in a call-and-response way, which makes for a great way to teach it! I’ve created a simple matching game to help kiddos as they practice these words. This Love One Another Line Matching Game is a great way to review this song!
*See all Love One Another Singing Time Ideas here!*
Love One Another Line Matching Game
The idea behind this game is similar to matching quizzes you may remember from elementary school. By setting out all the possible answer choices, kids can use their problem-solving skills to figure out which words match!
For this game, you’ll want to start by picking out short phrases from the song. Then, break up those phrases by separating the first word from the rest of the phrase. Let me give you a few examples:
- “Love One Another” – becomes “love” and “one another”
- “This new commandment” becomes “this” and “new commandment”
- “Ye are my disciples” becomes “Ye” and “are my disciples”
Once you have 6-8 phrases picked out, arrange the first words of each phrase vertically in a column, with the remainder of the phrases mixed up on the opposite side of the words. There are a few ways to display this for your primary kiddos.
- Write the words on the chalkboard/whiteboard – This is probably the simplest way to display the words if you have a chalkboard or whiteboard in your primary classroom. Before primary, write the first word of each phrase in a column and write the rest of the phrase on the opposite side in a different order.
- Create a small poster– A poster can be a fun idea, especially if you have a larger primary. If you plan to do this, make sure to leave enough space in the middle for children to draw a line to connect the matching phrases.
- Give each class a printout of the matching game – Print out the words and phrases arranged on standard 8×11 paper. I’ve included a printable page of the matching game later in this post that you can print out and give to each class to work on together.
Finally, once you have your matching game displayed, have children take turns matching words while you sing Love One Another. Since it’s such a short song, you can probably get away with singing it once through in between matches. Extra practice time!
How to Play:
- Choose 4-6 short phrases from “Love One Another” and separate the first word from the rest of the phrase.
- Display first words and phrases in two separate columns in a random order on the white board.
- Sing through the entire verse of Love One Another (lyrics here), listening for the key words and phrases.
- Invite a child to come to the board to match one word with its corresponding phrase.
- Continue singing and matching phrases until all phrases are correctly matched.
Class Competition:
If you like to add some competition into your primary activities, this game can be adapted to be a competition between classes. For this version, start by singing through Love One Another (Flip Chart here!) 1-2 times.
Then, print out the an 8×11 page of the words and phrases to pass out to each teacher. I’ve included a printable matching page below that you can use. Simply set a timer, and let the kids work together with their class to correctly match the phrases.
The first team to finish must all stand up and read aloud their matches. If all the matches are correct, you have a winner! If not, keep playing until a team has all the phrases matched correctly.
Extension Ideas:
- After matching all the phrases, give one complete phrase to each class. Classes only sing the phrase that they have!
- Pass out an envelope to each class. Inside each envelope are the separated phrases. Have classes match the phrases correctly.
- Give each child either a single word or a phrase of the song. Have them find their “match” in the class by pairing the single word to the rest of the phrase.
- There are some GREAT talking points in the talk Love One Another As I Have Loved You, by Elder Jose L. Alonso you could tie in a few quotes alongside this activity. I cry like a baby through the Love is Forgiveness section!!!
See other fun ways to use a Line Match Game in our Baptism singing time idea!
Love One Another Line Matching Game
Printable Singing Time Lesson Plan
Whether you are playing the class competition adaptation of this game or working together as a primary, use this Love One Another Matching Game Printable game sheet to make for an easy prep for this game. Simply print out as many sheets as you have classes.
You’ll find a larger 2-page printable and a lesson plan included in your INSTANT Primary Singing membership extended printables when Love One Another is the 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!
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For another fun way to review Love One Another, try out this Love One Another Foreign Language Singing Time Idea!
Have any questions for us? Drop them in the comments below!
