I'll Walk with You & Chair Hopping

One of my favorite Primary songs has always been "I'll Walk with You" (p. 140). There wasn't space for it in our program, but I decided to teach it to our kids anyway. Not surprisingly, they love it too. My toddler and preschooler also love it and often request it. It's easy to learn and easy to remember, and it teaches a vital lesson about loving one another.

If you don't walk as most people do,

Some people walk away from you.

But I won't! I won't!

If you don't talk as most people do,

Some people talk and laugh at you.

But I won't! I won't!

I'll walk with you, I'll talk with you;

That's how I'll show my love for you.

Jesus walked away from none;

He gave His love to everyone.

So I will! I will!

Jesus blessed all He could see,

Then turned and said, "Come, follow me,"

And I will! I will!

I will! I will!

I'll walk with you; I'll talk with you;

That's how I'll show my love for you.

In that vein, I love this post at Divine Secrets of a Primary Chorister about children with special needs. As adults, we have long since learned that we should accept and love all people, regardless of their abilities or disabilities, their personalities or seeming lack thereof. But it is still hard sometimes, especially if we don't always know how best to communicate with them or, if we're asked to, how to teach them. What Primary leader hasn't been in a Primary room with "that one kid" who just can't sit still? Sometimes it's a discipline problem, and sometimes the child physically cannot stay calm or keep from being a distraction to others, unless he or she has some help from loving and caring adults.

Back to the song. When I first taught it to the kids, we talked about being kind to everyone, regardless of whether they are able-bodied or not, clever or slower to learn, funny or annoying. It's easy to put labels on people, but once we get to know them we can learn to love them. We don't have to be best friends with everyone--but there's never any reason to be unkind to anyone.

My favorite way to sing this song is Chair Hopping, an idea which I think I found at Sugar Doodle. Chair Hopping works great for any song that repeats the same word or words several times--the first time we tried it was with "The Church of Jesus Christ," which repeats "I" and "I'll" several times. It also works with "I'm Trying to be Like Jesus," which repeats "I" and "I'm."

"I'll Walk with You" uses the words "I" and "you" over and over. So every time we sang the words "I" or "you," the kids would move chairs. To do this, make sure you have an extra chair at the end of each row. You can do either everyone goes left to right, then right to left; or everyone goes toward the aisle, then away from the aisle. The key is of course that everyone in a row should be moving in the same direction at the same time, or you will quickly have a dogpile! Senior Primary kids are great at this because they are disciplined enough and having enough fun with it to make it work perfectly.

As you sing, the first time a key word appears (in this case "If YOU don't walk...") the kids all move in the same direction so they're on an entirely different chair. The next time a key word appears ("some people walk away from YOU") they move back to the chair they started in. So it goes left, right, left, right, etc.

If YOU don't walk as most people do, some people walk away from YOU, but I won't! I won't! If YOU don't talk as most people do...etc. etc.

This game is really fun and everyone gets into it, even the teachers. It gets our blood moving and it makes us pay attention to the words...not to mention helps us remember the words in the future because we have been using our bodies along with our brains.

(Something to think about, of course, is that if you do have a child or children with special needs that impact mobility, this might not be the best activity for your Primary, unless you can think of ways to modify it that everyone is comfortable with.)

Chair Hopping is a bit much for the Junior Primary, so instead, I have them sing the song standing, and every time a key word appears they step from side to side while holding hands; or they can alternate standing up and sitting down when a key word appears.

Side note--we realized quickly that we should only move chairs on "I" and "you," NOT on "I'll," because moving on "I'll" is practically impossible since it's right next to "you." ("I won't! I won't! I'll walk with you, I'll talk with you...") Talk about dogpiles.

Lesson learned for me: I try to remind myself in difficult moments, if it seems like no one is absorbing anything: Love your kids (even if it takes some work...) and they will love you! (even if it takes some time.)