When I Am Baptized - mirror activity

When teaching a new song (or even reviewing), young children need some visuals to to help them learn especially non-readers.  The older children will enjoy the visuals and it also helps keep everyone focused (even adults).

Before singing When I Am Baptized, p. 103, try the following activity:
You will need:

• a large mirror that is quite dirty so you can barely see yourself for the dirt or smudges. (bigger than a make-up compact)
• a clean rag to clean the mirror
• water or glass cleaner to clean the mirror

Show the dirty mirror to the children.  

Ask them if there is a way to clean the mirror.

Ask a child to clean the mirror.

Relate the activity to being baptized.

• What are things that we do that "smudge" ourselves?
• hit our brother/sister
• don't share
• don't obey
• the children will have other ideas
• We can always say we are sorry and try not to do it again
• When we take a bath, all our dirt is washed away
• When it rains, the earth gets a bath.
• When we are baptized, our sins or all the things we've done wrong are washed away just like cleaning the mirror.

Sing the song using any visuals from last weeks post.  Always sing a song 2 or 3 times to help it sink into the children's minds.