General Guidelines

Though Singing and Sharing provides an excellent resource for both Primary presidencies and music leaders, Singing and Sharing has not been endorsed by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints—use it with discretion. Refer to the Church Handbook of Instructions and check with your Primary President and Bishop if you feel unsure about presenting any material from this or other sources.

The Primary section of the Church Handbook of Instructions states that sharing time should include music; at least half of sharing time should be used for singing (Sharing Time on lds.org). We have had success including music throughout the lesson during sharing time, rather than separating the two. This way, lessons are reinforced through music and the meanings behind the music are clarified through the lessons.

The lesson plans on Singing and Sharing are meant to be presented by both the Primary presidency member in charge of sharing time and the Primary music leader. They should work together to make sure they communicate expectations effectively. The goal is to invite the Spirit so it can teach the hearts of the children—confusion distracts from the Spirit.

We created some of these lesson plans to teach a particular song using one of the gospel objectives from the Outline. However, some of the lesson plans are less specific about what songs to use during the lesson. In that case the Primary presidency member and the music leader should work together to choose songs that reinforce the lesson topic. They may want to allow for more time to practice the song assigned for the month, emphasizing how the themes in the song apply to the lesson.