Praise to the Man: Word Link Game for Older - First Verse
At the front of the room are these 18 word sets:(This is the order because it corresponds to the order of the words in the first verse.)
Approval, Glory
Share thoughts, confides in
Messiah, Son of God
Christ, Savior
Set Apart, Consecrated
Sees the future, Receives revelation
Rewarded, Consecrated
Time period, Gospel division of time
Commend, Celebrate
Admire, Exalt
Honor, Salute
Went Up, Risen
Disloyal persons, conspirators
Bullies, Oppressors
Useless, Pointless
Associating, Joining
Members, Family of God
Overcome, Defeat
Around the room are these words (in a random order):
Praise
Communed
Jehovah
Jesus
Anointed
Seer
Blessed
Dispensation
Extol
Revere
Hail
Ascended
Traitors
Tyrannts
Vain
Mingling
Brethren
Conquer
Tell the children "We are going to play Word Link. Around the room are different words that link up to these words up front. As I sing, I will tap you on the shoulder so you can go choose a word from around the room and tape it to the matching set of words up front.
Hint: Colors might have something to do with it.
Begin singing, and then tapping different children on the shoulder to go get a word from around the room. The children may need help and pointing to different sets as you sing. Continue singing the song over and over again as the children try to link up the right word with other words from the set. (These are similar words from the thesaurus.)
The beauty of this activity is that the children are concentrating on matching up these complicated words with a set of words of similar meaning while you are singing the song over and over again. The children hear the pitch, the rhythm, the beat, and the words of the song in a pattern over and over again, but don't even recognize it. Their brain does though and allows those patterns to go in the back door. The children are engaged and participating to figure out the challenge.
Note: You could also use these words for the game Eraser Pass, and just put the words up in sets of 3 on the board, then have the children erase the words that are NOT in the song.
Extender activity -
After the children have matched all the words, have the children sing only the words that are displayed up front, and you sing all the other words. Now switch and you sing the words displayed while the children sing all the other words.