Praise to the Man Week Three: Word Nerd

This Sunday I am hoping the following activity will allow a lot more repetitive singing of Praise to the Man, plus continue to focus on learning the words and their meaning. Its a little game I call:

Word Nerd

You will need: 

• Word strips. You can use the word strips from my last post, or use this revised list of words from Praise to the Man: PTTM Word Nerd.pdf. Print the words on white or colored paper or card stock and then cut them out. Divide the word strips into three piles: verse 1, verse 3, and chorus.
• Tape for the back of the word strips.
• 3 pairs of nerdy glasses. Buy them cheaply from thrift stores or just use some old glasses you might have lying around. Put tape or a band-aid on the bridge.

To Play:
Ask the children if they are ready for a test! Tell them it's time to sing Praise to the Man,  and that they will need to pay special attention to all the words in the song because you will be giving the Word Nerd Test afterward.

After singing the entire song once ask, "Who is ready for the Word Nerd Test?" Invite three children (or teachers) to the front, and have them each put on a pair of nerd glasses. After they have the glasses on, tape a word strip from your verse 1 word strip pile on the front of their nerd glasses (at the top so they can still see), so the audience can see the word but they can't. The children wearing the word on their glasses will be able to see each others' words, but not their own.

Explain that as you all sing verse one, everyone will substitute the words shown on the front of the children's glasses with "loo-loo". If the three words are "Jehovah", "anointed", and "seer" then everyone would sing:
"Praise to the man who communed with loo-loo-loo, Jesus loo-loo-loo that prophet and loo. Blessed to open the last dispensation. Kings shall extol him and nations revere."

Next, the children wearing the glasses and word have to fill in the blank with the correct word, that is also on their foreheads. If you have a small primary, you could allow the children who get the answer correct to stay up front and play again.  If they are incorrect they would take their seat and a new child would take their place. I have a very large primary, so I plan on having three new children for each round.

After each round is played, I will quickly remind the children what each word means. I won't be taking extra time for this, I'll just explain the definitions as I am taking the words and glasses off the children.

Continue playing as many rounds as time permits, using word strips from one of the three piles in each round.

Have fun!