For a fun way to introduce He Sent His Son this month, invite your primary kiddos to help you crack the code to figure out which song you’ll be learning this month! This fun He Sent His Son Crack the Code is a great logical activity that is great for both Junior and Senior primary!
Children can be excellent logical thinkers! At this age, they are often learning to problem solve and think symbolically, so they often enjoy challenges that require them to think a little bit!
** See 30 He Sent His Son Singing Time Ideas here! **
He Sent His Son Crack the Code
The idea for this activity comes from some earlier “Crack the Code” activities that were a hit in primary! For this activity, you’ll be choosing some symbols to represent words of the song to see if your primary can guess the song!
To prepare for this activity, start by looking at the lyrics for He Sent His Son and thinking of some simple symbols that might represent those words. Try to think simple!
For example, you might choose to replace the word “world” with a picture of a globe, or use a heart anytime the word “love” appears in the song. For articles like “of” or words like “how could the” use blank lines to represent these words.
After you’ve chosen some symbols, it’s time to create your poster! I decided to go with a poster for this activity because I wanted it really large and bright! But we also have a printable version below so it’s no-prep!
Write each line on your poster, replacing your key words with “code” symbols. I like to use these poster markers because they make the text very clear to see and add some fun color to your poster!
Activity Instructions
- Begin by displaying your “Crack the Code” poster in primary.
- Invite your primary kiddos to look at the poster and try to de-code some symbols. You may have to offer Junior primary more help in this process.
- Ask if anyone knows what song this code might be.
- While children are thinking about the code, invite the primary pianist to begin playing the piano accompaniment to He Sent His Son.
- If kids are still struggling to guess the song, begin singing the song on your own and pointing to the code.
- Have the kids start to piece together what the symbols mean. What do they notice? Do they see any patterns?
- Continue alternating singing through the song and cracking pieces of the code!
CODE SYMBOLS:
- __ Symbol indicates short words or articles (how, the, could, and, we)
- F and S letters stand for Father and Son
- ???? Megaphone indicates the word “tell”
- ???? Globe symbol indicates the word “world”
- ???? Heart indicates the words “love” and “tenderness”
- ???? Envelope indicates the word “sent”
- ???? Baby indicates the words “newborn babe”
- ☮ Peace sign indicates the word “peace”
- + Plus sign indicates the word “and”
- ???? Smiley Face indicated the word “holiness”
- ???? Camera indicates the word “show”
- ???? Feet indicate the words “pathway” or “walk”
- ???? Stop light indicates the word “go”
- ???? Man indicates the word “men”
- ???? Light bulb indicates the word “know”
Extension Ideas:
- Once you learn the first verse together, have the kids help create a code for the second verse! This is a great way to help them think through the words of the song.
- Split the code into a puzzle of different strips of paper and put the puzzle together as a primary!
- Have each class try to decipher one line of the code. After they crack the code, they will sing only their part of the song.
- Let the kids fill in the blanks! They can come up and write in the missing words as they solve them!
Find more fun ideas on ways to use this crack the code game with this other really fun singing time idea – I Am a Child of God Color Code!
He Sent His Son Crack the Code
Printable Lesson Plan
To help make this activity easier for you, I’ve created this He Sent His Son Crack the Code Printable helps. I’ve included a cipher for the code. There’s also a 3-page printable crack the code posters included! You can use these, our write up your own code on a large poster board.
NEW: I’ve expanded this crack the code for the entire verse, plus added a condensed version and a 1-page activity sheet! These extra printables are included in the INSTANT Primary Singing membership when He Sent His Son is the featured song of the month!
To access the free in-post printables for this post, you’ll just need to create a free account or login with the Grow.me tool. Then, confirm by email and refresh the page and ALL my free printables will automatically unlock in every post!
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For another fun activity to review this song, check out this He Sent His Son Ribbon Wands activity!
Any questions about this He Sent His Son Crack the Code Singing Time Ideas? Drop them in the comments box below and we’ll try to help you out!
