As a Child of God: Hand Bells for Older Children
Children love the handbells. The colors on the bells make it amazingly accessible for success. Lots of children are involved at once. Here is an idea for "As a Child of God:" If you are lucky enough to have a set of bells AND a set of sharps/flats (the bells with black handles), you will be able to do this activity.
You will need these bells:
Red
Red with Black handle
Orange
Orange with Black handle
Green
Light Blue
Light Blue with Black handle
Dark Blue
Dark Blue with Black handle
Purple
Make these charts with the correct colors. (You can print these out, but you will need to enlarge them so that the children can see them.) You will point to one column per downbeat.
Here is a zip of all the handbell charts - as-a-child-bell-charts-2017.
(Words listed are for each downbeat of the first verse, but this can be done with any verse.)
Chart #1 I, earth, power, choose
Chart #2 choices, me, family, too
Chart #3 child, God, -ceive, light
Chart #4 Holy, helps, know,
*is, right All of the bells in one column play at once. You touch the top of the column on the first beat of every measure (the down beat) as you sing. On the fourth chart you will touch the *in-between column on the word "is" and the last column on the word "right." Once you have played it through, ask the children to give their bell to a child who does not have a bell. Rules:
Hold the bell quiet to your body until it is your time to ring.
Do NOT touch the white ball inside the bell. It will damage the sound of the bell and make it go out of pitch.