by Rachel | Resources & Tips
Last December, we offered our very first holiday-themed music class at Music Therapy Connections and it was a such a blast. I mean, what’s better than singing about reindeer and clicking reindeer hooves (a.k.a. castanets) with a bunch of kids?!
So of course we brought back Little Jingles this year, and we have a completely full class starting tomorrow evening. This year, Katey and I kept some favorite songs and activities from last year in the rotation, and we added a few new ones as well. The session is a mix of both familiar and completely original songs with lots of opportunities for singing, dancing, and instrument playing.
Just as we’ve done with many of our other class sessions, we’ve made our Little Jingles package available at Listen & Learn for Leaders, which is a resource we created for therapists, educators and parents.
This facilitator package includes a guide with a list of instruments, materials and instructions/suggestions for each song, as well as a lyric packet for participants, chords for the facilitator, and collection of mp3s.
You can purchase it as a standalone product, or get it for free when you become a VIP member (more about that here).
We’re super excited about kicking off the month of December with our Little Jingles class, and we invite you to join us in leading it with your own students, clients, and families!
by Rachel | Resources & Tips
You guys, I am so excited about Thanksgiving. I look forward to this holiday every year, but this one is special — it’s my daughter Mia’s first Thanksgiving, and my son Parker is old enough to (mostly) understand why we’re celebrating.
I always offer some type of deal or discount here at Listen & Learn Music to kick off the holiday season, and this year I’m going all out with two big ones.
- Free “Early Childhood Programs: Create, Market, Make Music!” Online Course ($75 value) when you join Listen & Learn Plus, my membership site where I provide hundreds of music therapy songs, resources, downloads, biz advice and more.
- 50% off the entire Listen & Learn Music Store when you use the code THANKS50 at checkout.
Oh, and I have a free download (mp3, instrumental track, & lyrics/chords) to share with you as a little Thanksgiving gift. I wrote “Count Your Blessings” specifically for the Thanksgiving season, but it is perfect for use throughout all the holidays!
These two specials are available now through November 30. Thank you so very much for reading, sharing your feedback, and supporting Listen & Learn Music throughout the years. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
by Rachel | Resources & Tips
One of my favorite books to read to Parker is Bear Snores On, because I love the way the words flow and the phrase “…and the bear snores on” repeats. So when I was browsing online and found that there were other books in this series, I got really excited.
I was in search of a Thanksgiving-related book to use in our early childhood music classes, and Bear Says Thanks was the perfect choice. It’s a little bit longer than our usual singable stories, but the repetition makes it easy for everyone to join in. The illustrations are lovely and the hard copy version is nice and big.
The tune I came up with is a mash-up of “Do Your Ears Hang Low?” and “Turkey in the Straw” — kind of random, I know, but that’s what came out when I first tried setting the words to music :) I like using familiar melodies for singable stories, because they are easier to remember.
There are a few other books I love to pull out at Thanksgiving time (There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie and Ten Fat Turkeys are favorites) but this one is currently at the top of my list.
by Rachel | Resources & Tips
The following is a guest post by Marilyn Webster. After Marilyn told me about this activity she created and led, I mentioned that I would love for her to share it here on the blog. I’m so glad she took me up on it!
Hi, my name is Marilyn Webster, and my daughter has been a client of Rachel’s for years! As my daughter with autism grew, we found it harder and harder to find fun activities that we could enjoy as a family. Her interests and abilities were not the same as her peers, and she was too old to join preschool groups anymore.
And so, I started my own group with the support of my church! We call them family fun nights, and all families with special needs kids are welcome to attend. Our group serves a few functions for our families: it provides us with a sense of community, provides fun activities which our kids are able to fully participate in, and gives families who often feel isolated “something to do”.
As I plan events, one question I challenge myself with is: how can I find ways to take situations which either I personally or others in the group shared have been difficult to access for our kids, and make it accessible? Some of the most commented on events that families find difficult are holidays. Parents desperately want their kids to be able to enjoy these important cultural and family events and participate in the traditions, but our kids can find it overwhelming and confusing.
Now, you’ve probably jumped quickly to the melee of Christmas or the raucousness of Halloween, and you are right, those are struggles. But the one holiday that comes up in conversation more often than you might think is Thanksgiving, and if you give it a moment of reflection, this makes sense.
First of all, the whole idea of Thanksgiving is very abstract. Some of our kids can’t grasp the idea of gratitude yet, and this isn’t a holiday with a lot of concrete symbols like Santa, pumpkins, or eggs that our kids might be able to enjoy. In fact, the only physical symbols of Thanksgiving are foods! And food is one area where our kids tend to struggle immensely! New foods are frightening, and many of our kids have very narrow diets.
So, how to make Thanksgiving a fun and welcoming experience? I created a sensory Thanksgiving feast! This way, kids could explore the smells, textures, and appearances of traditional Thanksgiving foods in a fun, non-threatening way, and maybe build a connection to what we mean when we talk about the holiday.
Our feast included:
Pumpkin pie playdough: You can use whatever basic play dough recipe you prefer, but add pumpkin pie spices to it and color it to look like pumpkin pie filling.
Cranberry sauce playdough: The texture of this was a bit weird, and most kids didn’t really like it. I think a simple activity with whole cranberries might have been more fun. But here is the recipe.
Dry corn sensory bin: We filled a water table with that dry corn you throw out for the birds. It was a huge hit!
Dry stuffing sensory bin: two bags of dry store bought stuffing in a wide, low bin. I think this bin was responsible for making the whole room smell like Thanksgiving!
Potatoes and “gravy” stamp painting: I cut a few potatoes in half to stamp with. Then I mixed a dry turkey gravy packet into some plain yogurt to use as paint. It looked and smelled like real gravy! This was most definitely “process art” as opposed to “product art”.
While kids explored the feast, we sang a few songs having to do with turkeys and saying thank you.
Our kids had a blast playing with all the Thanksgiving goodies, and their parents had fun being able to enjoy traditional holiday foods with them, albeit in a very unusual way! I know when we sat down to our Thanksgiving feast, and my daughter had her usual plate of spaghetti while the rest of us dug into the turkey, I was thankful that she had at least enjoyed a sensory Thanksgiving meal of her own.
by Rachel | Resources & Tips
In addition to growing our team and moving into a new facility this fall, we also started a university-affiliated internship program. Katey and I made the decision to do so last winter; we spent months interviewing, filling out paperwork, and getting all of our ducks in a row to welcome our very first intern.
Alisabeth Hopper joined us in late August, and is now in week 8 of her internship. Although I have been an internship director in the past, this is our first time having an intern in the private practice setting.
It has been a learning experience for all of us, and we still have a way to go! Alisabeth has been blogging about her life as a music therapy intern, which I think will serve as a helpful resource for students and new interns who want a glimpse into the internship experience.
Alisabeth will be with us through March, and it will be so neat to compare her reflections at that point with those in the beginning and middle of her experience.
Even though I completed my internship 8 years ago, I can still relate to what Alisabeth is experiencing. It’s such a formative time in our careers as music therapists, and it’s exciting to be a part of her journey.
Read more about Alisabeth and follow along with her adventures in internship here.
by Rachel | Resources & Tips
Those of you who already own one of these will never believe that this is the NEWEST addition to our collection of movement props.
We have just about everything else (including most of what is available from our friends at Bear Paw Creek) but for some reason, a parachute didn’t make it into our hands until just a few months ago.
We’ve been having a blast using our parachute in the current session of our early childhood classes, and it’s a huge hit with all the kiddos. Most of them are getting used to holding the handles, but there are always a few who would rather stand underneath or right on top of the parachute. Needless to say, we are just as entertained as the children every time it comes out.
There are lots of songs that lend themselves to the parachute, like “Ring Around the Rosy” and “Pop Goes the Weasel”, and it has also given me an opportunity to write some new ones. Can’t wait to share those with you soon!
As often as we’ve been using this fun prop, we need to keep it fresh with a variety of material. What are some of your favorite parachute tunes and activities?
