Primary Ideas

I should mention that we have about 120 children so we divide them by Junior and Senior Primary. Senior Primary goes to the classroom first while Junior comes into the Primary Room for Sharing and Singing Time. Then we switch.
We also rotate WEEKLY who does Sharing Time and an assigned class takes the last Sunday. This way we only have Sharing Time about once a month and the kids don’t get tired of us and we don’t get burned out.
Presidency Meetings
First of all let me say that I love our presidency. Our President is a kind, professional and caring Primary President and I instantly knew that when she was called that she would be a perfect person to show love to our primary children. I love working with her. She is organized in our meetings and we always include an opening and closing prayer and usually a spiritual thought to start us off on the right track. We find the more meetings we have, the better prepared we feel and more connected we are to our children and teachers needs.
Conducting Sheets
I used to be one of the secretaries (we have 2 since we have over 120 children) and I loved this format. It was double-sided and kept in our conducting book. (I’m now the Second Counselor) I liked that it was double sided because you could open the conducting book and see in one view exactly what was going on that day. (I hope that makes sense…)

(YOUR Ward Name) Primary
Junior Primary
(10:20 – 11:10)
Date:___________________ Conducting:______________
Welcome & Hello Song if there’s anyone visiting (recognize substitutes)
Birthdays:___________________________________________
*Announcements:______________________________________
Prayer Song: Your Primary Chorister’s name
Prayer: _________________________________
Scripture: _______________________________
Talk: ___________________________________
Primary Presidency’s Message: (by person conducting)
Fast Sunday: Member of Bishopric introduces the new month’s theme
2nd Sunday: Article of Faith - discuss meaning & let kids pass off
3rd Sunday: read First Presidency Message from The Friend
4th Sunday: Apostle Spotlight (in back of conducting book)
Sharing Time:____________________________
Singing Time: Your Primary Chorister’s name
Primary Panda:_________________________________________
Reverence Child for Junior Primary:_______________________

**(Page 2)**
Senior Primary
(11:10 – 12:00)
Welcome & Hello Song if there’s anyone visiting (recognize substitutes)
Birthdays:___________________________________________
<——Announcements: (SEE LEFT *)
Opening Song: Your Primary Chorister's name Scripture:_______________________________ Talk:___________________________________
Article of Faith:___________________________
Primary Presidency’s Message: (by person conducting)
Fast Sunday: Member of Bishopric introduces the new month’s theme
2nd Sunday: Article of Faith - discuss meaning & let kids pass off
3rd Sunday: read First Presidency Message from The Friend
4th Sunday: Apostle Spotlight (in back of conducting book)
Sharing Time:____________________
Singing Time: Your Primary Chorister’s name
Reverent Prayer:_________________________________
Reverence Child for Senior Primary:_______________________

*So... Reverence Child is someone who was being reverent that day. The following Sunday they get to go early and stand on the stand and the Bishopric Member conducting recognizes and thanks them for reminding us all to be reverent. They get a wristband reminder and a phone call the Sunday before. It helps to keep a record of who has done it so you don’t have Johnny B. Good up there every week.
Birthdays? The Sunday before their birthday we have them come up to the front and sing a Primary birthday song to them. They then receive a Golden Ticket birthday coupon that says:
"This Golden Ticket is good for a piece of candy and a handshake from the Bishop"
We printed it on goldenrod colored paper and had cute clip art on it. We were able to fit 5 on one sheet of paper. The kids LOVE this and it’s a way for them to know and be comfortable meeting with our sweet Bishop.
Teacher Appreciation
Our teachers used to get a piece of REISEN candy on a small paper that said “You are the REISIN we are celebrating today, happy birthday!” This we would give to them along with a scripture bookmark from Distribution Center.
For 2009 we decided to do something different. We went and got “What I Learned from Kindergarten” 5x7 papers found at Deseret Book that we got discounted because we bought over 50. I made it framed with red cardstock and added a strong magnet on the back. You could even add a ribbon on the top front if you like.
We also do Teacher Appreciation Parties at least once a year to let the teachers mingle and enjoy good food. Sometimes we’ll do training and reminders as well. They normally have the regular lesson and then during Sharing Time they go into the overflow area for their Teacher Party. We also like to invite our “Friends of Primary”—those who have substituted and helped make our Primary work.
Roll
We find that when we keep roll, the teachers have more time to teach their lesson. During Sharing Time our secretary records who is in attendance. We save money on folders and time because we don’t have to distribute or collect rolls.
Primary Panda
This was continued on from the previous presidency—great idea gals! At Build-A-Bear they got a black and white panda bear and had him dressed up in a missionary outfit. We put him in a Sterlite container with a handle. We also include a notebook binder with this letter pasted on cardstock inside along with a notebook and pencil. (This is only for Junior Primary children.) We have a jar that has every child’s name on it and each week we read the letter then the child who HAD Primary Panda gets to pick a new name and hand it off to the next child.

Congratulations!
Your child has been given the opportunity of taking home Primary Panda for one week. Please make sure that Primary Panda makes it back to Primary next week so that another child will be able to take it home.
The 2009 Primary theme is “My Eternal Family.” We hope that Primary Panda will remind your child to follow God’s plan by making right choices. Please help him/her do this, and record your experiences on a page of this notebook.
We will share this information in Primary to help the children understand how they are blessed by doing what’s right and
making good choices.
With Love,
The Primary Presidency

(Example Letter)
January 1st, 2009
I loved having Primary Panda at my house this week. He helped me to remember to share my toys with my friends and to be nice to my sister. I hope I will always make good choices.
Johnny B. Good

Reverence Ideas
Our amazing secretary puts together new binders each year and includes along with the manual and pictures the following:
Ward Phone List, Primary Substitute List, Lesson Schedule, Sharing Time Schedule and Monthly Themes for the year, and in the back some Reverence Ideas and Coloring pages… just in case. She also includes “Teach as Jesus Taught” from the Teaching Guidebook, 4, and also Time-filler Ideas.
Quarterly Activity Ideas
*Meet Your Teacher Breakfast with spotlight papers
In January we have all the kids come one Saturday morning and we have the Bishopric make and serve pancakes (you’ll love it!) and we have juice, milk and fruit as well. The kids sit at their new teacher’s table and learn about their teacher and then start to fill out their spotlight papers:

Spotlight Trivia Sheet

Child’s Name ___________________
Parents _______________________
Phone # ______________________
Birthday ______________________ place photo
Birthplace _____________________ here
Food allergies ___________________
Favorite food ___________________
Favorite candy __________________
Favorite vacation _________________________________
Where has he/she lived? ____________________________
Favorite sport/hobby _______________________________
# of brothers__________ # of sisters __________
Pets? ___________________________________________
Favorite thing to do _______________________________
Hobbies/Lessons/Instruments ________________________
Interesting trivia about your child ____________________
_______________________________________________
Anything else? ___________________________________
_______________________________________________
Please return to (name of your Primary secretary)

*Water Day—this was a fun summer activity that we held at our neighborhood park. We had 4 different stations with different relays or games. We had popsicles, lots of ice cold lemonade and extra sunscreen on hand. Quite a few extra neighbor kids showed up!

*Service Idea—Each year we do a month-long food drive for the Food Bank. Jiffy Lube then matches that donation pound for pound! This is a great way to remind children how blessed they are. November is a great month for this. 2009 we’d like to do Soles for Souls where the kids donate their old shoes to this great cause.

*Talent Show—We host a Ward Talent Show every year and have everyone come and share their talents/crafts/accomplishments for that year. It’s way fun! We record it on video and then after our Primary Program is over we show the video for Sharing Time and have them sit on blankets and have little goody bags with popcorn, goldfish, pretzels and Swedish fish.

Baptism Ideas
Since being called as Second Counselor, I’ve searched a bit and found that I really like these ideas below. I also highly recommend attending Scout Training and Roundtable Meetings.
Great to be Eight is planned in January every year and this is a great time for the kids to come and learn what will happen when they are baptized and learn about Cub Scouts and Activity Days. We go ahead and do Priesthood Preview as well, just 1/2 hour after G2B8 finishes up. Great way to get 2 things done in 1 night.
We used to give white towels to the children for after they came out of the font. We learned we were not supposed to give gifts from the Primary. I personally like to give gifts so I go ahead and do it but mention to the child that the gift is from me to them and that I am so proud of their decision to take upon themselves our Savior’s holy name. For 2008 I would go and visit with them and give them their papers and remind them to pray, read their scriptures and come to church, remind them what they are promising to do and what the Savior promises them when they are baptized. I would then remind them that Heavenly Father is our king and that makes them a princess (or prince) and would hand them a ring pop. (Every kids likes candy, right?) I then remind the parents that now is a great time to have their FHE lessons centered around this important upcoming event.

*Here are some of my favorite LINKS to websites when I’m trying to find more ideas. Of course we always try to use church-approved resources first found on lds.org but when we have a little leeway, we like to see what’s on www.sugardoodle.net or www.eprimary.dk or www.deseretbook.com/fhe