These dreary wintry days have me longing for spring and all of its colors, so I’ve taken that inspiration into my music therapy sessions and music classes with a few colorfully themed songs.

Identifying colors is an important developmental skill for young children, so it’s only natural to practice that skill in a musical context. In this post, I’ve featured two songs that creatively address color identification while targeting some additional goals as well!

Those of us who work with young children know how essential movement is to a successful music therapy session or music class. Although movement is necessary, sometimes when all of the kiddos get up to move, chaos can break out and spread like wildfire!

As a young music therapist, it was hard to manage gross motor movement songs effectively; it always seemed like my clients and students would become dysregulated, run around, and have difficulty following along. As the years go on, I’ve gotten a little bit wiser, and have learned to work smarter and not harder when it comes to movement interventions.

Sometimes I hear a song on the radio, and I think to myself, “Okay, how can I bring this into my music therapy sessions or music classes?” I’m sure that’s what was going through Rachel’s mind when she decided to use this 50-year-old song in her classes and sessions!

Today, I’d like to explain all the ways I’ve been using this song to reach the goals and objectives my clients and students are striving for in music therapy and music enrichment classes.

Although I’m not a huge fan of the weather in February, I am a massive fan of Valentine’s Day! I just love LOVE! The sweet heart-shaped decorations, watching children exchange Valentine’s cards, and getting a lovely bouquet of flowers from my man…I love it all.

Valentine’s Day presents a great opportunity to sing about love, and to discuss other emotions as well. Emotions can be such a challenging topic for many children, but set some memorable lyrics to a catchy melody, and talking about feelings can actually be fun! Read on to learn about two such songs for addressing emotions.

As a child, I spent lots of time with my grandparents, and one of my favorite activities my sister and I would do with them was go ice skating. After ice skating at the cold ice rink, my grandpa would always make us some hot chocolate to warm us up.

I have so many fond memories of my childhood, and when I was scrolling through the L&L catalog and stumbled upon the two songs featured below, I couldn’t help but reminisce about those moments that I will cherish forever. This post is inspired by my childhood memories of winter activities with my grandparents, and I hope these songs inspire you too!