Primary Hospital

One thing I did last year that was really fun was primary hospital. When music time came I put up a big sing that said, "The doctor is in" dressed in my scrubs (I'm not really in the medical profession, but they are very comfortable to lounge around in) I had all the song for the program printed out on notes that I put on the back of the wall in the primary room. They were the patients that were coming in for a checkup. I had 3 nurses hats that I made up for my assistants. One "nurse" would bring a patient in (they went to the back and picked one of the notes). One would "assist" me in doing the check up (they helped lead the song) and one would observe the patient and pronounce whether it was healthy or sick.. If it was sick, then I would give the note an ambulance driver who would rush it to the "primary hospital". The children all made the sound of a siren as the "patient" was taken and taped to the back of the piano at the front of the room. Once it was in the hospital, we would sing the song again so that a "specialist" could diagnose what was wrong and what we needed to do to release the patient. I had another set of scrubs that I put on one of the children to be the specialist. That child would consult with his "team" (the rest of the primary) and ask what they thought was wrong, such as they don't know the words well enough, etc.. Some songs were put on the critical list because they needed a lot of work, some were in fair condition because they just needed a little polish etc.. The next few weeks, our goal was to get every song out of the hospital and the kids worked really hard to accomplish the goal. Both Senior Primary and Junior Primary loved this activity. It got everyone involved. I changed hospital positions with every song, so every child had an opportunity to do something fun. (Even the older boys wanted to wear the nurses hats) It was so successful in reviewing the songs that in September, I will bring out the primary hospital again. ADDITIONAL IDEAS:We used this for our singing on Sunday. I had both junior and senior together while the teachers had teacher development. I borrowed scrubs from a nurse in the ward and used a thermometer to check their singing. It was the first time I'd used the thermometer so it definitely got their attention. They sang their little hearts out. After the songs were "discharged" from the hospital, we sent each song on vacation to spots around the world. Only one song didn't make it out of the hospital. We decided that it would have to stay in the emergency room until we had time for the doctor to work on it a little more completely. I was only the triage nurse after all. (Melanie Zimmerman)The way I did it was to take poster board and draw a hospital and color it in. You can Google 'hospital clip art' and use an image as a pattern, but it can be as simple as a building with windows and the red cross symbol. Then I put the words "Emergency Room", "Immediate Release", and "Day Clinic" on to strips of poster board (or card stock, or paper...whatever you have around the house.) I also put each of the program songs on strips. I put all of these things on the magnetic chalk board (Hospital on top, 3 different areas underneath, program songs along the side.) Then I explained what triage was (when doctors/nurses determine where a patient should go.) I told the children that we were going to triage the songs. For each song we would determine if it were ready for immediate release (sung perfectly), needed to visit the day clinic (no emergency, no need to check in, but needs a little help (song needs a little more practice)), or emergency room (patient (song) needs lots of help immediately.) After song has been sung, discuss where it needs to be and place it under that area. Extra time=singing the songs that need the most help again. I use the name sticks (colored popsicle sticks with all Primary children's names on them) to choose who can come select the next song. However, if that person did not sing, or was not reverent I simply say "This person did not sing/was not reverent so I will put their name back in the jar to try again...and choose another name. (Idea by Jen)Last Sunday I opened the Song Hospital in our building! I posted signs on the outside of the Primary Room that said "Welcome to Primary Children's Song Hospital". I created a "medical chart" for each of our songs for the program. I listed each song's "symptoms" inside a manila folder, as well as five characteristics that each song had to meet in order to be discharged. (volume, melody, words, spirit, watching)So I have 3 blackboards - On one I wrote "waiting room" the middle one was "Admitting" and the other was "Discharge". When the children arrived, I had the manila folders taped to the first board, or "waiting to be treated". I asked a member of the Bishopric to be our "Song Doctor." I used my choosing sticks and asked a child to be my patient. The patient selected a medical folder from the board and that became their "file". We sang the song listed in the folder, and then asked our "doctor" if he would rate us a 4-5 or better (on a scale of 1-5) in each category (volume, melody, words, spirit, watching). If the song got 4 or 5 points in every category, it was discharged. If it failed in any area, it was "admitted" and we worked on it more later.About half way through our practice, I threw in the "miracle sing" ploy - I had filled spray bottles with Crystal Light lemonade, and when the children were a little "low", I told the "doctor" that we needed to "help them sing better", so we gave each of them a "dose" of Miracle Sing (sprayed into their mouths) - It helped keep their attention long enough to get through the rest of our songs. Some of the boys complained that they needed more and more and more Miracle sing, and I told them as long as they'd sing, they could have all they wanted.... What's the harm? (Ideas by Jennifer Dancy / ga10102006)
Wear scrubs and surgical mask, gather assorted medical stuff to use, bandaids, stethoscope, etc...Great to do weeks before the program. Give each song an exam. Have a team of volunteers (Dr. Singalong, Nurse Goodvoice, etc....) have clipboards and decide if the song is well enough to be released from the hospital or if it needs an ambulance. Have an ambulance driver volunteer (ball cap with a red cross on it) drive the song around the room, if it needs work and it gets reviewed again and sung next week. The children loved this, and it really gave me a chance to assess what we needed to work on.