Praise to the Man Week Two: Big Words

Sing Praise to the man one time through. After the song is over excuse yourself for a moment and turn around so your back is facing the children. Quickly put on a disguise; glasses, hat, or jacket to look like a game show host. Then turn back around to face the children and continue with:

The Big Words Game Show

Game Show Host: "Good morning everyone! And welcome to this episode of Big Words! Now, to play, I'll call up a reverent contestant to choose a card from this pile of Big Words. Each card has a Big Word on the front from the song Praise to the Man,

 and on the back, there are three possible answers for what the Big Word means.

The contestant picks a card, and I will read the possible three answers listed on the back.The contestant decides which of the three possible answers is correct, and rings the bell!

After ringing the bell the contestant gives his or her answer.  If the contestant is correct he receives 10 points*. If the contestant is not correct, the audience can say the correct answer,  and then we will sing the phrase of Praise to the Man that contains that Big Word.

Okie-dokie! Who can show me they are ready to be a contestant by being reverent?......"  

Notes:

• Play until you run out of words or time.
• Be sure to sing the phrase of the song the word comes from after the card is played. For example: If the word was "extol", sing "Blessed to open the last dispensation, Kings shall extol him and nations revere."  Sing the phrase 2 or three times if you like, and remind the children to think about what the word means when they sing it.
• You might opt to divide into teams; boys against girls, teachers against children, left side of the room against the right, etc. Keep score on the white board.
• Leave enough time to sing Praise to the Man all the way through at the end.

You will need: 

•  Game show host disguise: Hat, glasses, jacket, funny teeth, wig, fake mustache, etc.

• A bell (or have an item they can grab, or even just have them slap their hand on the table when they know the word. I found my orange bell at DI for something like .25 or .50 cents!)   
• Open, print, and cut out the following PDF's: 

PTTM-Big Words Wordstrips.pdf  This PDF contains the game title to display at the top of the white board. It also contains word strips to display beneath the game title, to be added as each word is chosen in the game. You might wish to point to the word strip and have the children repeat the word a few times. It would be best to print these on white or colored card stock, but white or colored paper should work just as well.

PTTM -Big Words Playing Cards.pdf
This PDF contains the playing cards. It is designed to be printed on both sides of the white or colored cardstock. When you hit "print" on the PDF, a print dialog window should appear. Click on the "Properties" button, and find the option your printer gives for printing on both sides of the paper manually. Then click "OK" and then go ahead and print. All printers will be different. You might have to go to "Settings" or "Options". You could also tell your printer to print pages 1,3, 5. After those are printed, reload the paper in the printer to print the other side, and tell the printer to print pages 2, 4  6.  After printing the pages, cut each card out. The word on the front should correspond with the definitions on the back of the card.


Have fun!

 *I give 10 points regularly in singing time as a measure of praise: I'll randomly call out: "10 points for whoever can smile when they sing." (I give a "thumbs up" to individual children if they smile while they sing to indicate they have received the points) or  "10 points for anyone who can recite the last phrase of the song from memory!" Sometimes I'll up the points to 25 or 100, and the children are even more eager to participate. The points are not real, they don't have any value, we don't keep score, and mean they absolutely nothing, but the kids love knowing they were awarded them! Sometimes they ask what they get if they received points, and I just smile and say "Points! You get 10 points! You are so awesome! Isn't that great?!" Its lots of fun.

Afterthoughts for Sunday May 15th:
I always seem to plan too much for so little time, and today was like that! I hoped to get through all the Big Words, but didn't. The idea was fun, and the kids really liked I think, but it might be a good idea to do it over two weeks, or pick and choose doing only the words that need the most explanation. Other than the time factor, things went great!

I loved this next idea so  much, I think it is definitely the way to go. Thanks 3boys2girls:

3boys2girls said...

I read the comments about running out of time and thought I would let you know how we did it. I am the Primary Pres. and it was my week to do sharing time, so I worked with both of my Music leaders and we did this activity the whole time. In Sr. I introduced the song with the story of WW Phelps and then followed the same routine we did in Jr. The teachers sang this song and I went out to change into my game show disguise(the kids loved this!) and then we followed your outline. I was the host and the music leaders led each line that we sang. I believe that the music is the most important part of Primary because most of us can't remember a sharing time lesson we had but we can remember the songs!! I think the more you can coordinate the songs in Sharing Time the better. It works great for us!

 How did it go for you?