Last year, I had the idea to tell a simple story in primary. After reading a few lines of the story, I would teach a few lines of a song. To my surprise, the children were glued to the story! They were so engaged.
In March, I’ll be using this Love One Another LDS Printable Song Story to introduce this sweet hymn in primary.
*See all Love One Another Singing Time Ideas here!*
Children have eyes to see what many adults don’t always see. One strength they often have is noticing those who need extra love. Love One Another is the perfect song to help reinforce this love that many children already show others in their every day life!
Love One Another LDS Printable Song Story
The idea behind this activity is to share a simple story that teaches the principle found in the song. Since this song teaches us to love as Jesus did, I want to include a story about loving someone who may be different than us.
I wrote this short story about a little girl who is playing on the playground and notices a boy sitting in a wheelchair by himself. She decides to go sit by him and learn a new game with him. Later in this post, I’ve included a printable version of this story, so make sure to grab that for your primary lesson!
Activity Instructions:
- Begin by telling the primary that you have a special story to share with them.
- Introduce the story by reading the first paragraph. After reading this, introduce the first two lines of “Love One Another.” In Senior primary, you might choose to invite children to read short paragraphs of the story aloud.
- Continue reading the story and learning the song 1-2 lines at a time.
- At the conclusion of the story, you should have introduced/taught the entire first verse.
- Sing through the entire song again before the end of primary.
Love One Another Song Story Explained!
The first part of this story introduces a little girl named Katie playing on the playground. While playing, she notices a boy sitting in a wheelchair all alone.
After reading this part of the story, I will be introducing the first two lines with this Love One Another flip chart. These lines are, “As I have loved you, love one another. This new commandment, love one another.”
After singing through these lines a few times, continue the story by describing the decision Katie has to make. She needs to decide whether she will continue swinging on the swing or talk to the boy sitting by himself.
She ultimately decides to get off the swing. At this point, I would teach the next line of the song, “By this shall men know, ye are my disciples.”
After singing this line, I’ll describe what happens after she decides to get off the swing to talk to the boy. The little boy, Jacob, is happy that Katie came to talk to him and teaches her a new game. After this, teach the last line of the song, “If ye have love one to another.”
If you want to tie in another story, I LOVE this really cool post on the story behind Love One Another!
I intentionally wrote this story to be very short. Keeping the story helps to keep children engaged in the story and the message behind it. When I read stories in primary, I like to ask lots of questions as we read to help the children feel like they are part of the story. Some examples of questions I might ask include:
- What is your favorite thing to do at the playground?
- What would you have done if you saw the boy sitting by himself?
- What are some ways that you can love others like Jesus did?
- What does it mean to be a disciple?
Extension Ideas:
- Create a story board for the story with pictures. Invite “readers” to read different parts of the story.
- After reading the story, ask questions about the message of the story. Discuss different ways to serve others.
- Print out each paragraph of the story and tape these papers to the wall. Have children put the story in order!
- Give each child a piece of paper and crayons and invite them to draw the story.
To see another example of ways to use a Song Story in singing time, see our I Know My Father Lives song story idea!
Love One Another Song Story
Printable Lesson Plan
To help you stay organized while you share this sweet, simple story, I’ve created this Love One Another Song Story.
Simply print out this lesson plan and bring the story with you to read. Having the story on paper will also provide an opportunity for children to help read the story.
You’ll find a printable lesson plan and bonus read & sing version included in the INSTANT Primary Singing membership when this is the monthly featured song!
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!
Have questions or need more help, see this FAQ page here.
Head over next to see this fun Love One Another Magic Crayon activity to teach this song in a visual way!
