I like to do activities for Pioneer Day throughout the month of July. There are so many fun pioneer songs to sing & your program songs can easily be incorporated into all of these activities. Have fun!
Pioneer
Children – Another classic made by my mother. Choose a child to put their face through the visual while
singing a Pioneer Day song. This
works especially well with “Pioneer Children Sang as They Walked” p. 214.
Bonnets
– Assign a song to each bonnet.
Have a child pick a bonnet and then sing the corresponding song.
Wagon
Wheel of Fortune – This idea is courtesy of “The Ordinary Adventures of a
Primary Chorister” blog (www.basicprimarymusic.blogspot.com). Select 6 graphics and tape them to a large spinner. I used one that I bought from Oriental Trading.
Graphics can be found at http://basicprimarymusic.blogspot.com/2010/07/pioneer-wagon-wheel-of-fortune.html. Explain that, "When
the Pioneers were traveling across the prairies, plains, deserts, and mountains
to reach the Salt Lake Valley, they encountered many adventures! We are
going to sings songs today that teach us about their journeys. First we will spin the spinner on the
wagon wheel. The spinner will land
on a picture of one of their adventures, and I will explain how we will sing
the pioneer song." Select a child
to spin. Sing the song according
to the graphic where the spinner stops.
Ox: Sing
very slowly
"Teams
of oxen were used to pull heavy wagons.
Oxen are very slow animals, but because they are stronger than
horses or mules, many pioneers used them to pull their heavy wagons."
Bunny
rabbit: Sing
very fast
"Rabbits were seen along the pioneer trail. Rabbits are
FAST and hard to catch!"
Pioneer
girl: Only
girls sing (Put girl pioneer clothes on a girl)
"These
are some of the things pioneer girls would wear."
Pioneer
boy: Only
boys sing (Put boy pioneer clothes on a boy)
"These
are some of the things pioneer boys would wear."
Cowboy
boot: Sing
western style
"Lots of pioneer boys and girls your age were real cowboys
and cowgirls! They drove cows and other animals all by themselves along the
pioneer trek!"
Snake: Sing
very quietly
"Yes, there were rattlesnakes! If the pioneers encountered
a rattlesnake it was best to be very quiet and not disturb it!"
Native
American: Children
trade seats
"There were many, many encounters with Indians along the
trails. Pioneers would 'TRADE' some of their
precious items (jewelry, dishes, toys, furniture) for much needed food, or furs
and blankets to keep warm."
Ax
& Wood: Sing
"choppy" (staccato)
"Children had the job of collecting firewood for campfires.
When there were no trees for wood, they would collect sagebrush or buffalo dung
to burn in their campfires!
Beehive & Bee: If
the child holds this picture up high in the air, everyone hums. When the child
hides the picture, everyone sings the words.
"The
Pioneers wanted to call their new home 'Deseret', which meant 'honey bee' in
the Jaredite language in the Book of Mormon. The honey bee was symbolic for how
industrious or 'busy' the pioneers were, just like bees!"
Ant: Stomp
to the beat
"Sometimes insects, like ants, invaded the pioneer camps.
Pioneers had to stomp to get the ants off their bodies! Yikes!"
Cow: Hot-n-Cold
(A child leaves the room while someone hides the cow in the room. When the
child returns, the rest of the children sing loud when he/she is close to the
cow and softly when he/she is not close).
"If
a cow wandered away from the pioneer camps, sometimes children your age had to
search for them and bring them back to the camp."
Mountains: Echo
sing (Divide the children in two and have the first group sing a phrase of the
song. The second group echoes the
first. Have the pianist play each
phrase twice throughout the entire song.) "When the pioneers finally
reached the mountains they discovered some places in canyons, between two
mountains, that would echo anything they said or sang!"
After
each picture has been landed on with the spinner and used, replace it with a
new picture.
