Are you looking for a super sweet and easy to teach Mother’s Day Primary Song? You’ll love to teach The Dearest Names which works for either Mother’s or Father’s Day! With this fun The Dearest Names Movement Actions you’ll get lots of exposure to the lyrics and have a fun activity that helps the kiddos focus in on listening for the correct word to add a movement to!
The Dearest Names Movement Actions
How to Play:
Sing through The Dearest Names (flip chart here) once, before introducing this activity. It’s a good way to draw in their focus and switch from a different activity.
Now, ask the children, did you hear the word “name”? How many times did we sing it? Let’s count how many times! I want you to stand the first time you sing “name” and then sit the next time you sing “name.” You’ll end up standing and then sitting back down twice in quick succession.
Sing through the song as you stand and sit and count for “name” throughout the song.
Let’s add another fun action. This time, let’s listen for “mother”. Stomp one foot on the ground for each syllable, like this: Mo(stomp) – ther(stomp). Great job! Let’s sing and stand and stomp!
Sing through the song sitting and standing on “name” and stomping on “mother”.
Here’s another fun action, sing the line, “Mother so tender and kind and true, I love you, I love you” and demonstrate the pattern. You’ll clap once on each “love” and “you” to give you 2 quick claps as you sing “love you”.
Sing through the song with sit/stand, stomp, and now clap-clap actions all included!
Finally, you can add one more motion, if desired. For this last one, we’ll pat our lap with each of the characteristic words – tender, kind, and true.
Movement Actions:
- Name: Stand or Sit (alternating)
- Mother: Stomp
- Love You: Clap-Clap
- Tender, Kind, True: Patsch
*Same actions for the 2nd verse, updated for Father and Noble, Brave, and True.
Extension Activities:
- Consider adding additional actions! You can let the kids help you pick out a word from the song and an action to go with it. A good next one to pick is “I” and “I’ll”. You might point to yourself with your thumb nice and dramatically! Another fun option could be to spin around in a circle on “glorious.”
- Use the same actions for the 2nd verse, replacing Mother for Father and his trait words.
- Try singing the song with the actions at double speed! Can you keep up?
For another fun singing time activity that uses actions, head over to grab this Mother Tell Me the Story Hand Actions lesson plan.
The Dearest Names Movement Actions Printable Guide
This free printable includes 2 pages with the printable chart showing the action symbols and the word match. There’s one for each verse with the same actions, but updated with the words for Father and his attributes so you can teach either verse!
You will find a printable lesson plan and a fun actions chart, plus larger printable action cards that you can add one at a time are all included in your INSTANT Primary Singing membership in the April Old Testament packet!
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To help you teach this song, head over to grab this The Dearest Names Flip Chart! There are several different printable options to choose from plus a slideshow.
What other fun actions could you add to this activity or other ways to expand this lesson plan?
