Bathroom Breaks

A problem we have each week are the constant potty breaks. Some kids really do have to go, and you can definitely tell when a child really has an emergency, but others just play the 'potty' card when they are bored. I honestly was too scared to have to deal with accidents in the classroom to stand up to these kids about these potty breaks, but in Sharing Time this week, the Primary President was not going to stand for it.

I admire this lady so much, especially because she has a daughter the same age as the kids in my class, so her advice is directly relevant to me and when she has an idea, it always works. After I came back to Sharing Time with the 3rd child who needed a potty break, she drew the line. She explained to the kids that we get drinks and go potty before we come to Primary. If there is an emergency, we can go on our way to class after Sharing Time, and then again after church if we need to, but we do not leave the class room during Sharing Time, Singing Time, or Class Time.

The kids knew she meant business and weren't going to challenge her. She always knows exactly how to say things to these kids so that they understand her expectations, and obey immediately. Partially, I think, because she will many times get down to their level, by kneeling on the floor, and talking with a smile on her face. That change seems simple, but I find it makes all the difference.

We did not have a single potty break during class time that day, and many asked their parents if they could get a drink after class when they came to pick them up. The rules definitely stuck and I'm so happy that they are growing up into these little people who are learning things and remembering them so well. These last 6 months have shown a tremendous improvement with these kids, and I suppose, to a 3 year old, 6 months is like a life-time!

Official Ball Toss

After having to scrounge up something to be able to toss between the kids during a lesson, I headed out to the dollar store that week and bought some water soaker balls. Those are the toys that soak up water and are intended to be thrown at other kids, kind of like water balloons. I found that these were extra soft and squishy, but were still heavy enough for the 3 year olds to throw accurately.

This is something that we always keep in our Primary Bag (that we tote around our lessons, pictures, etc. to church each Sunday) and if we have extra time at the end of class for some reason or another, it's a great activity.

Usually we will talk a little about the lesson and ask each child to say something about the lesson before we can throw them the ball. For the lesson "I Have Feelings", they were to say something that made them happy, show us their 'happy face' by smiling really huge and them we could toss them the ball. I love using this game because it's helping them to remember what the lesson was about, they apply it to themselves, and they have fun without being overly active/irreverent.

Our class is 3-4 year olds and they are still working on the motor skills to accurately throw balls and catch things, so it's getting two birds with one stone. They're learning spiritual things, as well as physical things. The more multitasking we can do in the short 1 hour of class time, always the better!

Matching Game

We struggled for weeks in trying to find some sort of activity that was Sunday appropriate, would teach the kids to share, and teach them what behavior is acceptable during Primary.

What we came up with (after many failures) was a matching game. We simply took what the lesson was about, printed 8-10 pictures on regular 8 1/2 by 11 inch paper, cut them in half, mixed them up and used magnets up on the board to put them face down and let the kids try to match as many as they could.

We usually have 8-10 kids in the class, so we purposefully have at least that many pictures (we used food the first time, for the lesson I am Thankful for My Body, then colored smiley faces for I Have Feelings). This way we can make sure that each child makes at least one match. They know that they need to wait patiently (reverently) in their chairs since we simply go around the room one at a time and let them try to make a match. They get to come up to the blackboard, pick whichever two papers they want, and we flip them over to see if they match.

For some reason this keeps all the kids interested in what is going on, even when they're not the one up at the blackboard and they are actually learning how to sit still and wait their turn. I also like it because it teaches them that it's okay to try something, even if you fail at it (or don't make a match) and eventually if you keep trying you will succeed (by making a match).

This game is easily tailored to each lesson and we use it about every third week or so. They don't seem to be bored with it yet, so we'll keep using it as long as it works!

Movie Time

Today was another first for our class… We decided to show a short movie of Jonah and the Whale. It took a long time of searching the internet to find an age-appropriate, biblically accurate, short movie, but after a couple of hours of searching, we found one that was pretty good! Our class ranges in age from 3-5 so we needed something that would appeal to all of them, and keep their attention!


The movie we found that worked the best was 9 minutes long, animated, and had narration as well as actual voices for the characters. The kids surprised us all when they actually could answer questions after the movie about the story! We combined this story with the activity “Gone Fishing” and it was a bit hit! I almost had tears in my eyes when one of the little girls said “That looks just like the fish that swallowed Jonah!” when she ‘caught’ one of the blank fish to color in on her own.


The kids seemed to pay attention, and actually retain the information in the story. Obviously, we can’t use this in every lesson, but it’s a great treat for them to get to watch a movie while at church. Now, I am always on the lookout for good clips to show the kids for future lessons!

Gone Fishing

This week, our lesson was “I am thankful for fish”. We struggle each week trying to come up with ideas for activities that are physical enough to keep the kids engaged, but reverent enough to be done in a church on a Sunday. This week, coming straight from the manual, we had a great idea to go fishing!

We bought a kid’s size fishing pole at Walmart, and brought a sheet with us to church. I just tied some yarn onto the end of the pole (we didn’t want any accidents with fishing line) and tied a clothes pin on the end. We all remember doing things like this growing up, and what a good way to keep them anxiously engaged!

We let them ‘fish’ for their snack, which were Swedish fish in little snack size baggies, then after they were done eating, we let them fish for ‘real fish’ which were actually just the fish printout that was in the manual too, cut into 4ths so that each child could go fishing more than once to get all four fish and then color them. I sat behind the curtain while my husband had all the kids line up single file (we’re working on waiting our turns, being polite and reverent) and it was a huge success!

This was the first week since we’ve been teaching this class that the kids didn’t want to go home! Some even cried when they had to leave! I know that this is an activity that we will be doing over and over again this year, now… only how to apply it to lessons?!?

Fire Alarm

Today during sharing time something completely unexpected happened… The fire alarms went off and we had to evacuate the building! The kids were terrified, the noise and lights scared them half to death. Luckily, there was a long pink ribbon on the table that I was sitting at. I remembered our walk that we had gone on last week, where everyone was required to hold onto the string and not let go, and I thought this would be the best way to keep track of all 7 kids. One was so scared that I had to carry her outside, but with the presidency able to lead and follow the line of children, we were able to safely get everyone outside in a surprisingly short amount of time. Several parents stopped in the Primary room on the way outside and picked up kid’s coats (since it is winter time here, it was in the 20’s) and met us outside and tended to the kids that were upset while we kept counting and recounting all the kids to make sure we didn’t lose any. Thankfully, it was a false alarm and we were able to go back inside within 10 minutes of the evacuation. There was no way we could have prepared the children for the loud noise and lights that come with a fire alarm, but I was so glad that just last week we had gone on that walk with the string around the building. They had something familiar during a time of distress that helped them cope and not freeze up in the craziness, which also helped us get them out of the building in an orderly fashion. I think we will be doing fire drills in the future every couple of months or so to make sure that we are all prepared for that type of evacuation again.

Field Trip

This week seemed to be an especially difficult one with all of the children being extra cranky. There’s always one or two each week that are having a bad day, but this week, EVERYONE was having a bad day. We were battling it through the lesson, not very effectively, and the spirit definitely wasn’t in the room. I had to resort to ‘counting to three’ to get the children back into their chairs and pay attention. Just before I was about to loose it totally, on the brink of tears, the Primary Secretary said, “Who’d like to go on a walk?”

The children were so excited about this mini field trip they immediately jumped into the line behind the Secretary and were at attention. She had in her hand a piece of yarn about 5 feet long and each child had to hang onto the string. She discussed with them the rules for this walk. “There is no talking, and you must not let go of the string.” When we were all on the same page, we began our trek through the halls. We only made it down one hall and came back to the classroom, but the kids weren’t having that. We explained that because they were talking in the halls and one of the children let go of the string (they bolted toward an exit door, which we luckily caught him before he ran outside) we had to come back to the classroom. We asked them if they wanted to go out again and they were very enthusiastic about it and promised to follow ALL the rules this time. We made it down 2 hallways this trip (there were only 2 in the building…) and came back to the classroom.

After this little trip, the kids were still anxious and wiggly, but we were able to have the spirit with us and enjoy the last part of the lesson. This was an excellent example of thinking on your feet and being prepared to make changes to the lesson plans. Thanks again so much to that special lady who had the brilliant idea to ‘go on a walk’. She not only saved the lesson, but my sanity!