Friday was a fantastic day – we took a group of our best singers around UCP to Christmas carol!
This was a first time event, so yay! I emailed all the employees who have offices in UCP (i.e. Human Resources, Nursing, etc.) and asked them to leave their doors open so the children could serenade them with the sweet sounds of Christmas carols!
Caroling tied in nicely with our theme of teaching the children about holiday traditions from around the world. (More on that when I tell you about our Holiday Spectacular Show in an upcoming post!) I found books at the library about different holiday traditions and taught the children how some people go around from home to home and sing carols.
After teaching the children about the tradition of caroling, we started practicing songs. Traditional carols proved to be difficult for the children to learn because of the advanced language (“Troll the ancient yuletide carol!” “Bells on bop tail ring!” “Bring us some figgy pudding?!”) So we simplified the lyrics to make them easier to learn. This made the experience much more successful. Here was the lineup…
“Feliz Navidad” (lyrics are pretty simple and repetitive as they are. Definitely a crowd favorite!)
“We Wish You a Merry Christmas” (lyrics are pretty simple and repetitive as they are! Left out the “Good tidings to you…” part.)
“Jingle Bells” (the children just sang the chorus of this one)
“Deck the Halls” (the children just sang the “Fa, la, la, la, las”)
Here is a video of the children singing one of their favorites, “Feliz Navidad”…
This was a GREAT way for the children to not only learn popular carols, but also to work on socialization and communication as they made their way around UCP to spread Christmas cheer! (And they looked really cute, too!)
Hi Amy, I’m a music therapist, and I’ve been asked to help two classrooms at my school for autism do some caroling after the Christmas lighting ceremony in town. I was looking at your kiddos doing caroling, and was wondering if they were all verbal. The two classrooms I’ve been asked to coordinate this with are preschool and 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders, so there’s obviously a big age gap. Also, there are at least 3 of the preschoolers who are non-verbal. When doing performances in a building, I know it’s appropriate to use instruments for those kiddos who may not be able to sing, but in the community, I’m not sure whether this would be feasible, or even a good idea. Also, because of their big age gap, I’m not sure of a way to make the experience appropriate and engaging for both groups. Any thoughts on this?
Hi Caroline! Caroling is so much fun! Given the range of ages it sounds like it would be most appropriate to have the kids go caroling in two groups. That way each group can learn songs appropriate for their age. Also I definitely do think instruments would be perfect for those children who are non verbal. Have fun and hope that helps!