Friday, February 20, 2009

Spicing Up Primary

When I moved, I was put in the stake primary.  I'm still kind of laughing.  I've had a total of two callings in primary so I'm just not an expert here!  

We're having leadership meeting with our unit presidencies at the end of the month and they've been asking for fresh, new ideas to share and go home with.  

So!  What's fresh? What's new?  What do you love? What do you think every primary out there should be doing?  I'm dying for any ideas, resources, anything! :)

6 comments:

highdeekay said...

My sister is a primary prez in WA state. She is awesome! One of the things they do every year is that they make booklets for each of the kids. They take their pictures and put them in the booklets - like a passport. Then they have a list of different things they can do to get a "stamp" in their passport. So, every time they pass off an AofF, they get a stamp or every time they give a talk, they get a stamp, etc. It helps the kids remember the good experiences and helps them want to do things like scripture reading, FHE, prayer, etc.

Liz said...

what a great idea!

Claire said...

That's an awesome idea Heidi! We are having an "8 is Great" fireside for the 7 turning 8 year olds this year. {That's my class} I approached the Primary President about having it. We'll introduce the Scouting and Activity Days programs, talk about Faith in God and discuss the importance of baptism. I'm really excited about it.

Jen L said...

Claire, we do that here too, except call it "Baptism Preview" (I like the 8 is great though... we don't talk about scouts/activity days). But the ward mission leader comes and talks to the families and kids about the logistics of baptism... when to contact him to schedule, filling the font, etc. etc. and then gives a tour of the font, and clothing, and such. Then the kids get a packet with information/activities and white socks.

When I have more time I'll have to write down some more thoughts I have about this. I just did training last year at our stake leadership meeting, and other people gave some great ideas!

Liz said...

Jen L, that would be great if you could!

We are actually talking about baptism but more in the context of how to do it right. The stake feels like too many parents are in charge of the baptisms right now in our stake and there is actually a very specific process of how it's arranged and carried out in the handbook. But I like your preview ideas as well.

Linz said...

Liz...in your last comment, I liked how you mentioned that you'll be giving info. on the specific process. So often in the church we veer away from the handbook or can sometimes get carried away with props, cute stuff, treats, etc. I for one would love to go to a training where some of that handbook info. was included.

I went to a training last year that was awesome. At the beginning they had a list of true or false questions based on facts from the handbook. It was amazing how many I didn't know the answer to. Then later they performed a sample lesson plan as if the leaders there were the kids. It was an example of how to incorporate music through your whole sharing time vs. having 15 mintues of singing time and 15 minutes of sharing time. It totally inspired our presidency to change how we did things. After that training we planned sharing times at presidency meetings all together with our chorister. We got ideas from each other, our sharing times were more filled with the spirit, and the songs we used throughout the hour were reinforcing gospel concepts. If it wasn't for that training where they literally showed us how to do it by a full-out example, we wouldn't have made that change. Before we were sticking to a tradition from the days when we were kids which so often happens in the church.