Stop and Sing

On one side:

On the reverse side:

This is an easy review idea with a lot of possible variations, and in my experience it works well with both junior and senior primaries. You can format your cue-card as a hand-held poster that you just flip around, or you can slip a paint-stick in between the front and back sides and turn it into a rotating sign for you or a child volunteer to hold.  I simply printed my two pictures on cardstock and glued them back-to-back. 

I chose a stop sign and a singing bird for the two sides because they're colorful and dramatic, but you could use any sort of stop-and-go visual that strikes your fancy:  a red-light/green-light, a lion/mouse, a sound/mute sign (the little symbol on your computer keyboard that turns off the sound), an open-mouthed-child/closed-mouth-child, or whatever appeals to you.

Explain to the children that when the singing bird side is showing, everyone sings. When you abruptly flip to the stop sign, everyone immediately becomes silent as the piano continues to play. Everyone thinks of the words silently as they listen, and the minute the sign switches to the bird side, usually right in the middle of a line, the children immediately resume singing aloud. It keeps them on their toes, and makes them feel clever.

Older children love the power of being the sign-holder, and deciding when everyone will be silent or sing. You may need to set a limit on how many times the sign can rotate per verse, if the child-in-charge is flipping it every other word. 

Have you used an idea similar to this in your primaries? Please share your experiences, or variations that worked well for you.