Love is in the air!

I’ll admit that I am a big holiday person. Now that Valentine’s Day is around the corner, I’m excited to be implementing my themed activities for this holiday of love. (Too cheesy?)

My previous post was about Valentine’s BINGO, a musical game I use with my tween and teen clients. Be sure to check out that post so you can see how to access the template and use the game in your sessions right away!

Today, I want to share a Valentine’s Day songwriting activity that I implemented yesterday with my group at Friendship Circle of Miami. I used the song “Put a Little Love in Your Heart” by Jackie deShannon as a template and left blanks for the group to fill in.

My very large post-it paper looked like this:

________________________________________

Put a little love in your heart

________________________________________

Put a little love in your heart

And the world will be a better place (repeat)

For you, and me, just wait and see!

I like this song because it’s catchy and has just enough repetition.

Most of the group had heard the song before and the rest caught on quickly. I sang through the original song so they could hear the melody and flow of the song. Then, I asked for lyrics to fill in that had to do with love or friendship.

This is what they came up with:

We love the Friendship Circle, it’s a great place to be

Put a little love in your heart

Music and art and crafts, yoga and sports and dance

Put a little love in your heart!

And the world will be a better place (repeat)

For you, and me, just wait and see!

You are my friend you see, I will give love to you

Put a little love in your heart

Valentine’s Day if here, come on and spread your cheer,

Put a little love in your heart!

And the world will be a better place (repeat)

For you, and me, just wait and see!

I was very impressed with the lyrics they came up with!

One of the group members had just started a new relationship, so he had a lot of feelings to draw from (hence Verse 2!). We sang the song through a few times and they were very happy with how it all turned out.

Next time we meet, I am going to record them on GarageBand and send the MP3 to each of them so they can keep their work. Very meaningful for them!

What are YOUR favorite Valentine’s Day themed interventions?

* Looking for more inspiration for your adolescent groups? You’ll want to check out this resource ~ Tuneful Teens: Creative Ideas for Engaging Adolescents in Music Therapy *