I was a little surprised to see the song When We’re Helping on the New Testament List of Primary Songs to teach as it feels like more of a wiggle song, but it can be a great one to include to teach the children about helping and the cute catchy tune is easy to pick up and learn. I have a ton of When We’re Helping singing time ideas here to help you engage with this teaching this song in a variety of fun ways.
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When We’re Helping Teaching Packet
Get the very most out of teaching this song with this teaching packet with my 7 favorite ways to teach this song and extended printables included plus a beautiful custom art flip chart all in one complete packet to make teaching a cinch!
You can find this fun teaching packet for When We’re Helping in my shop here. This packet is also available in my Etsy shop here.
When We’re Helping Flip Charts
A great place to start with for any song you want to teach is a visual aid with the lyrics to help those that might not attend every week feel confident in singing along with you! I have a variety of different When We’re Helping Flip Chart styles for you to choose from.
This song is included in the Children’s Songbook on page #198. You can find printable sheet music on the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints website here.
8 When We’re Helping Singing Time Ideas
This post will help you find all of my When We’re Helping 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. When We’re Helping – Ways I Can Help
Let the children pick one of these 4 When We’re Helping Ways I Can Help colorful cards that are designed to look like kids drawings and be really relatable! Pretend to follow along with the ways to help chosen as you sing through this song.
2. When We’re Helping – Pick a Picture
Choose between two contrasting pictures to see if they can find the correct word for each line of the song in this When We’re Helping Pick a Picture lesson plan! It’s a great way to have fun while earning the song with ease.
3. When We’re Helping – Dance Scarves
Pull out your dance scarves and follow along with these 4 different actions for each of the verses as you “paint” the song as you sing. Head over to grab the When We’re Helping Dance Scarves lesson plan and printable.
4. When We’re Helping – Dropped Pictures
The kids always love to play a game of dropped the pictures! Pretend to dramatically drop all your pages and have the Junior Primary children help you get them back in the correct order in this When We’re Helping Dropped Pictures activity.
5. When We’re Helping – Act it Out
Divide into groups for this challenge to act out each different line of the song in a fun and correlating way that will reinforce this song with added meaning. You’ll find the When We’re Helping Act it Out activity and fun extension ideas over in that post.
6. When We’re Helping – Paper Plates
Pass out two paper plates per child and have fun with this sequence of repeating actions that follow along with the flow of the music in this When We’re Helping Paper Plates singing time idea. It’s a great way to add engaging fun and lots of singing repetition with movement!
7. When We’re Helping – Song Story
Your Primary children will love to hear this sweet story about Oliver and his new baby brother as he helps his mother throughout the day. You’ll share a piece of the story and then sing a line of the song together and continue in this When We’re Helping Song Story idea.
8. When We’re Helping – Action Words
And finally, add in these When We’re Helping Action Words to help you learn and remember the words with purposeful hand motions that represent the lyrics.
9 More Different Ways to Teach When We’re Helping
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. When We’re Helping – Piano Solo
I love this beautiful piano track of this song by Orrin Howard. You can play this youtube video as a silent video (with audio only) and have the children just listen to the music. It will change the way they think about this song! Ask them how the music made them feel? Follow up by asking what is one way they want to help someone this week?
2. When We’re Helping – Sponges
These adorable dishwashing sponges will thrill your children in Primary! Bring them in as a prop to help you sing through the song. You can view the full video here.
3. When We’re Helping – Ukulele Sing-Along
This sing-along video with a ukulele is so much fun! I think this is a great way to introduce the song for the first time or use it as a fun review. You can see the video here.
4. Chords Bell Chart (Facebook Group)
5. Chores & Hugs (YouTube)
6. Clean-up Actions 2nd Verse (YouTube)
7. Grace Helping Sing-Along Video (YouTube)
8. Helping Hands (YouTube)
9. Box Stacking (iheartprimarymusic)
For more activities, see these Children All Over the World Singing Time ideas!
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What other fun When We’re Helping singing time ideas have you tried? We’d love to see your fun ideas! Share them in the comments to add to this list.
