"Who Is the Child?"

"Who Is the Child?," p. 46, is a lovely song about Christ's birth.  I teach it with pictures and words.  Prepare the following:

• picture of Jesus in a manger (swaddling clothes)
• picture of a manger - a trough for feeding animals (lying asleep in the manger)
• word strip of "manger"
• picture of Mary and Joseph ( Mary and Joseph watch nearby)
• Shrug your shoulders while singing the last phrase
• word strip of "stranger."

2nd verse

• put finger to lips - meaning quiet
• draw a baby face with its eyes shut
• word strip of "sleeping"
• picture of the shepherds
• picture of angels heralding Christ's birth 
• word strip of "keeping"

(The picture in The Children's Songbook is perfect.)

Musically, you can point out how the music goes up and down:

• 1st phrase moves down
• 2nd phrase moves up
• 3rd phrase moves up higher
• 4th phrase moves down

Pointing out the rhyming words helps children to think of the words and it helps the teachers, too.
Sing the song and point to the pictures and words so the children have an idea of how the song sounds.
Sing each phrase 2 or 3 times and then put the whole song together.
Be sure to review it in the coming weeks.