You can get a copy of this song here. It is Page 99 of the Children’s Songbook.
Gospel Teaching
This is a great opportunity to teach the primary children the concept of forgiveness and repentance.
Forgiveness: In Doctrine and Covenants 54:10, it says, “I, the Lord, will forgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is required to forgive all men.
Forgiveness is to let go of anger, bitterness or thoughts of revenge toward others that may have hurt us, or have done something wrong towards us. To forgive is to pardon or excuse someone from an offense or misdeed. Forgiveness is accepting an apology. It is hard to forgive. We can pray for strength from our Heavenly Father. It may take time to be able to forgive.
Forgiveness does not mean we allow people to hurt or touch us inappropriately. We should tell a trusted adult if this happens.
Repentance is recognizing our wrongdoings or sins and having a change of mind and heart. It includes turning away from sin and turning towards God for forgiveness. It also includes a sincere effort not to repeat the sin.
Repentance is hard and sometimes requires changing habits. It may require a change in friends, activities, or thoughts. We can pray for strength from our Heavenly Father as we make these changes.
Teaching Method
Here is a fun game to play as you teach this song. It is a short song, so you can get a lot of times singing through. Teach the chorus of the song first. This can be done by the primary children echoing you for each phrase. You can also use the flipchart to help with your teaching.
Place the picture of the Freely Forgive Hand on the board. As you teach the first verse, have the children listen for the phrase “freely forgive”. When they sing this phrase, have them hold up the correct hand to match the hand on the board. Tell them this will be important to learn for the activity coming up.
This would be a great time to define and teach about forgivness.
Repeat with the second verse. Again, spend a minute or two talking about repentance.
Game: Read a scenario of forgiveness or repentance, and have the children hold up the correct hand of what they should do. You can play the game straight through, or read one scenario at a time and sing the verse that reinforces that principle.
Scenarios:
- You took a candy bar from the store without paying for it.
- Your friend pushed you down on the playground when he got mad at you.
- You lied to your mom when she asked if you had cleaned your room.
- Your best friend made fun of you at school when you fell down the stairs.
- You cheated on a spelling test because you hadn’t studied for it.
- You got upset and blurted out a bad word.
- Your friend told an embarrassing story about you to your primary class.
- Your friends had a party and didn’t tell you or invite you.
- You hid in your room and played on the iPad after your mom had told you it was no screen time.
- Your brother took your brand-new bike to the park and didn’t ask for your permission.
You can print a copy of the scenarios here.
Download a copy of the Hands here
Download a copy of the flipchart here
Here is a great video to practice with
Happy Singing!