Dare to Do Right - Teach & Review

In our primary, we're calling this our "superhero song" and thinking about what it means to be daring.

I love teaching the "old classics" in primary, so I am especially excited to sing this one this month! For both Junior and Senior, I would use one Sunday just to learn the chorus and one to learn a verse.

Junior Primary - Teaching "Dare to Do Right"

As always, Junior primary is best taught (in my opinion) while directing how they move their bodies, and every 3-5 minutes I stop what we're doing and do a quick wiggle song (under the guise of "let's see if you can still remember the song after we do this wiggle song!").

I introduced this song as a "Superhero Song" and first asked them to give me their best superhero pose. Tip: Asking them to flex as much as they can may keep them still enough for you to ask a question!

• What does "dare" mean?

The dictionary says it's "to have the courage to do something" (to be daring), though most kids' first thought is that it's a challenge ("I dare you to do something"). It's about being brave!

• The song is called "Dare to do right." Sometimes it can be hard to choose the right; sometimes we have to be brave, like a superhero!

Starting from a superhero stance (legs spread shoulder-width apart with closed fists at your hips), punch the air every time you sing the word "dare" (alternating fists each time). Have them repeat the first line of the chorus (Dare, dare, dare to do right!) with the air punches (run through this line a few times for them to get the hang of punching on the word), then sing the next line for them (Dare, dare, dare to be true!).

• What does it mean to "be true?"

This is a tough one for Junior primary - you could ask what being a "true friend" means: It's your real friend! The one who stands up for you and always tells the truth. They are loyal.

Sing the first two lines with the children, then sing the rest of the chorus. Now they are ready to do the whole chorus. Start with superhero stance and then punch on every "dare!" After every run through, make a comment to try something different, or ask a story question, like:

• This time let's start with the other hand when we punch the air!

• I have a question for you: Pretend you're at home and your mom had cookies on the counter and she said don't eat them, they're for the neighbors. Then she leaves the kitchen and you're all by yourself and the cookies smell so good! How can you dare to do right? What should you do?

Again, this is typically all I would teach them in one Sunday. When you're ready to learn the verse, you could follow this format: sing one line, ask a question about it, sing it again, then teach the motion (and practice just doing the motion a couple times!). Then have the children sing the line with you. Finally, sing all the lines you've learned together. Between every full run-through, ask a question (i.e. "How many ways of doing right do we count on our fingers?).

Here are the motions I did for the verse:

Dare to do right! Dare to be true! (Punch the air on the word "dare")

You have a work that no other can do; (One fist on hip, the other pointing to others)

Do it so bravely, so kindly, so well, (Count 1,2,3 on your fingers)

Angels will hasten the story to tell. (Run in place)

Senior Primary - Teaching "Dare to Do Right"

There are a few alterations I would make for the Junior primary lesson to be more appropriate for Senior primary. As a rule of thumb for myself, if I think something I did in Junior might be too "young" for Senior primary (like silly hand/body motions), but I still think it would help Senior understand the song better, I preface doing it with saying "in Junior primary, I said/did this." If it helps, I may continue to do the motions myself, but I usually don't ask Senior to do them with me (though many of them do anyway).

In that spirit, I would introduce the song by saying "In Junior primary, we are calling this the 'Superhero song.' It's actually called 'Dare to do Right.'" I'd then sing the first line, ask what "dare" means, then I'd sing the next line and ask what it means to "be true."

Before singing the whole chorus for them, you can ask them to guess how many times the word "dare" is sung in the chorus. This will keep them focused on the words while you sing the chorus by yourself. I'd then explain that in Junior primary, we punched the air like a superhero every time we sang "dare." Ask Senior primary "If I start with my right hand on the first 'dare,' what hand is going to be in the air at the end of the chorus? ...Are you sure? Ok, let's see!" When you sing the chorus this time, it wouldn't surprise me if kids joined you while doing the air punches (because the focus is not on them doing something silly, it's on seeing if their guess was right!).

Senior will learn the chorus much faster than Junior of course, so you may have time to teach the verse too (or you can switch to another song with the remaining time).

The teaching format is the same as Junior, just without teaching the motions: Sing a line, ask a question, sing it again, have the kids sing with you, then together sing all the lines you've learned so far. Here are some question/discussion ideas:

Dare to do right! Dare to be true!

You have a work that no other can do;

• We are all different. Do you think Heavenly Father made us different on purpose? We should all choose the right, but sometimes that means different things for different people. If you see a friend is sad, what can you do? What's a different thing you can do? And something else? Because we are all different, Heavenly Father might ask us all to do different things. No matter what it is, we should always "go and do" and "dare to do right!"

Do it so bravely, so kindly, so well,

Angels will hasten the story to tell.

• Do you sometimes have to be brave to choose the right? Like when?

• What does "hasten" mean?

Review Game: Truth or Dare

Need:

• A die or coin (or you can just ask a child to select "truth" or "dare")

At the start of the game, explain that the "truth" challenge is going to be the same for everyone (this will give them time to think about the answer). Tell them the truth challenge is "Tell us about a time where you had to be brave in order to choose the right (it could also be someone you know or a scripture hero)."

After singing through the whole song (or just the chorus if that's all you've learned), choose a child who was singing well to roll the die (or flip a coin). Even numbers (or heads) can be "truth" and odd numbers (or tails) can be "dare." If they get "truth," they get the truth challenge. If they get "dare," you can dare them to answer a question about the song or a story question. Here are some ideas:

• How many ways are listed in the song as ways we can dare to do right? (3-bravely, kindly, and well)

• You're at lunch and you're friends starting saying mean things about someone who is not there. What do you dare to do?

• What does it mean to "be true?"

• You're at a friends house and your friend asks if you want to watch a movie. You say "sure," and they choose a movie that you know you shouldn't watch. What do you dare to do?

• What is an example of "kindly" daring to do right?

• All your friends are registered to play a sport on the same team. You want to be on the same team as them but find out that all the games are scheduled on Sundays. What do you dare to do?