“Down By the Bay” was one of the first songs I was required to memorize during my internship, and I used it ALL THE TIME in sessions to work on all kinds of goals: rhyming, fill-in songwriting, echoing, and other language skills. It’s a go-to song because it’s versatile, fun to sing, and can be adapted for a variety of age groups.

So as I was putting together a beach-themed music therapy session recently, this song came to mind as an excellent piggybacking opportunity.

I’m always a little nervous that my students will only sing the original lyrics, but luckily that hasn’t been the case with this one! We’ve been having fun singing about all things beachy in the middle of fall :)