Imagination and Directional Marching with Special guests – Younger: I Belong to the Church of Jesus Christ

It made so much sense when I heard Stephen Covey read from his book, Seven Habits, that memory has to be something you’ve experienced, but imagination taps the infinite.  What if we could tap into the children’s imaginations to teach a song?

Imagine.

Imagine how the Helaman’s Warriors would sing “I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ… .”

Imagine how a room full of modern day missionaries would sing that song!

Imagine how you would sing this if you were dressed in battle gear to fight for Jesus Christ.

If somehow I can tap into their imaginations in those ways, they will have amazing experiences with this song. How can I make that happen?

Consider mixing that kind of imagination with movement, which is already a strong learning method for the children. It might look like this:

Tell the children that you have a special guest today, but first you want them to stand up and imagine.  Ask them, “How would you stand if knew your families needed you to defend them, maybe like you were a warrior in the time of Helaman’s warriors?”   Show them how you would stand.  Now ask them, “How would you stand if you were an army of missionaries going out to the world?”  Show them how you would stand.  “Now let’s invite our special guests in and have them lead us in marching to our song.  They will be our warriors and we will follow them!”

Invite the missionaries to come in the room to lead directional marching to “The Church of Jesus Christ.”  (You’ll have to instruct them before hand to know what to do. It might be fun to have the missionaries hold a Book of Mormon in their hands, and hold that in different directions.  The children can pretend to hold a Book of Mormon and have their hands follow the missionaries’ hands, and their bodies follow the missionaries’ bodies.)  The following video will give you an idea, even though it isn’t a missionary<grin>.

You will notice that as you march you are trying to face different directions every 8 beats.  Also notice that the hands (holding the Book of Mormon) go up, or down, or to the sides in conjunction with the marching.  It is challenging for the children to follow the directions, the movements of the hands, and keep the steady beat with their marching.  They are engaged and participating, and have the added experience of their imagination to enliven the experience!