Are you looking for fun and easy Pioneer Day singing time ideas to use in your Primary room this summer? You’ll love this collection of engaging activities the kids will love!
I’ve collected all of my pioneer lesson plans and activities into this post so you can easily pick between all the fun ideas! Plus, some additional fun ideas from around the web from other music leaders.
Affiliate links are included in this post.
Pioneer Day Song List
If you would like to teach a Pioneer themed song this year, you’ll love this post where I share a list of all the Pioneer songs and other fun summertime song picks! The post includes a printable song list that’s perfect to store in your Singing Time Binder!
8 Pioneer Day Singing Time Ideas
This post will help you find all of my pioneer day teaching ideas around this blog. Plus, I’m also sharing additional favorite lesson plans from other Primary music leaders at the end of this post!
1. Pioneer Day – Fill the Wagon
Use this printable collection of items to Fill the Pioneer Wagon! Each one is paired with a fun way to sing that will work paired with your choice of Pioneer songs or any songs of your choice to help you review your Primary program songs with a fun theme.
2. Pioneer Day – Mormon Trail Stops
Follow along with stops along the Pioneer Mormon Trail in this fun perfectly themed singing time! You’ll make your way west as you stop at various different points of interest along the trail. This is a great way to teach the children a little about what the journey was like while you have fun singing a variety of songs.
3. Pioneer Day – Meet the Pioneers
Be inspired from some of the actual pioneers who crossed the trails with this Meet the Pioneers singing time activity. You can even invite someone in the ward to come in and represent one of the pioneer ancestors. Introduce their stories, then sing through a pioneer song that matches their experience.
4. Pioneer Day – Pioneer Games
Have some fun in your Primary room with these simple and fun Pioneer Games that Pioneer children would play! You’ll incorporate a simple game along with singing through songs of your choice. You could include Pioneer songs or your program song list.
5. Pioneer Day – Headbandz Hat Game
Pick out one of these adorable illustrated pioneer hats and match it with a pioneer child with a pre-selected song of your choice. Or, use this activity as a Pioneer Day Headbandz Game! Pick out keywords from your song of choice and attach them to your pioneer day hats. Then, invite a child to “wear” the hat and try to guess the missing keyword!
6. Pioneer Day – Spin the Wagon Wheel
Try out this Spin the Wagon Wheel for Pioneer Day to see what type of experiences you might face along the Mormon Trail route just like the pioneers. It includes fun ways to sing connected to each of the encounters along your path.
7. Pioneer Day – Primary Trek
I have such fun memories going on a Trek experience as a youth and the experiences formed along the trail. I thought it would be fun to bring a similar experience with a mini obstacle course with little challenges along the way in this Primary Trek activity! I created this activity for To Be a Pioneer, but it will work great with any Pioneer day song.
8. Pioneer Day Would You Rather
Your Primary children will love this fun game to decide between two different situations and things that Pioneer children would face along the trail. Which one would they rather do? Find out in this Pioneer Day Would You Rather game! You can use this activity to pair with any song of your choice, but I especially like it paired with the Little Primary Children song.
Teaching Ideas by Primary Song
1. Covered Wagons
For a fun and simple primary song, you’ll love teaching Covered Wagons! I have a variety of different teaching ideas to help make it easy.
2. Little Pioneer Children
You can teach this cute round song as a normal song or sing it in rounds for a fun challenge! Here are some fun ideas to help you teach it:
- Little Pioneer Children Movement Words
- Little Pioneer Children Walk & Sing
- Little Pioneer Children Would You Rather
3. Pioneer Children Sang as They Walked
This is a classic favorite Primary song, and it will be fun to teach with either of these singing time activities.
- Pioneer Children Sang as They Walked – Walking Styles
- Pioneer Children Sang as They Walked – Letter Maze
4. Pioneer Children Were Quick to Obey
- Pioneer Children Were Quick to Obey Comic Strip
- Pioneer Children Were Quick to Obey Partner Arm Swings
5. The Handcart Song
Sing along with this fun plunky Pioneer day song that’s such a fun one to teach! Here’s some great singing time ideas to help:
6. The Oxcart
The Oxcart is a slower paced song that has a unique melody that really enunciates on each of the words and helps you feel the slow moving pace of what the trek west would have felt like. Here are some fun activities to help you teach this song:
7. To Be a Pioneer
This song is one of the recommended songs to teach as part of the D&C Primary Songs list, so it’s a perfect song to pick to teach that year. We’ve created tons of fun ways to teach this song, like this cute Pass a Pioneer lesson plan.
8. Westward Ho!
Have you ever taught Westward Ho!? It’s a different one that you don’t hear as often, but it’s a fun and unique song that will quickly become memorable to your Primary children. Try any of these activities to help you teach this song:
9. Whenever I Think about Pioneers
I love Whenever I Think about Pioneers song as it helps to make the Pioneers feel more relatable. It’s a great one to teach and these ideas can help make it easy:
10 More Pioneer Day Teaching Ideas!
If you’re looking for even more inspiration, I’ve sourced some of my favorite ideas for other Primary Music Leaders to help you teach this song in fun and varied ways.
1. Hand Bells or Pipe Chimes!
Bring in an instrument to make your own music! Pipe Chimes are lovely themed item to use for Pioneer Day, but you can also use hand bells if you don’t have pipe chimes.
These Pipe Chimes Note Cards will help you easily make bell charts! Or here are two lesson plans to get you started:
You can’t go wrong with hand bells, either. If you haven’t picked up a set of handbells yet, you can save 10% on any purchase from Merry Bells with the unique coupon code PrimarySinging.
- My Heavenly Father Loves Me Hand Bells
- Choose the Right Chimes & Bells
- Love One Another Hand Bells
- Help Me Dear Father Hand Bells
- Choose the Right Way Hand Bells
2. Pioneer Wagon Wheel Trivia
Use this cute themed Pioneer Wagon Wheel and let the kids pick one of the wheel spokes which includes a trivia question! You could also write a song title on each of the spokes. Head over to Let’s Get Together for the lesson plan.
3. Make Homemade Butter
Bring in mini mason jars and let the kids shake and shake while you sing and make homemade butter during Singing time! Then, they can enjoy the reward of their hard work with some fresh butter on a roll!
4. Marshmallow Covered Wagons
Make cute Marshmallow Covered Wagons as a treat and activity in one during singing time! You can work together to “earn” the parts of the wagon during singing, then assemble the last couple of minutes of singing time so they can take the treat home with them.
5. Fun to Do Pioneer Actions (The Children Sing Blog)
6. The Pioneer Trail Game (Facebook Group)
7. Pioneer Symbols Song Match (Facebook Group)
8. Campfire Songs (Facebook Group)
9. Buffalo Bowling (i heart primary music blog)
10. Pick a Picture (The Primary Pad)
For more activities, continue over to see all of these Back to School Singing Time ideas!
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What other fun singing time ideas have you tried? We’d love to see your fun ideas! Share them in the comments to add to this list.
