This winter, it feels like my kids have had more snow days and snow delays than they have full days of school!

We’ve been embracing it, though. Yesterday we went snow tubing, and we’ve been enjoying ice skating and lots of sledding in our backyard.

All of my sessions with kids this month and last month have been infused with a winter theme, especially my Rockin’ and Readin’ sessions at the library.

Because the focus of these sessions is on literacy, I always make sure to include a singable story.

Last Friday, I was rockin’ and readin’ at the Harbaugh-Thomas Library in Biglerville, Pennsylvania. We did the singable story “Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear?” by Bill Martin, Jr. and Eric Carle.

This gave children the opportunity to work on receptive and expressive communication skills. They followed directions to put their hand to their ear when I sang the repeated phrase “What do you hear?” and then sang the phrase along with me.

I also included the singable story “The First Day of Winter” by Denise Fleming in my recent virtual music therapy sessions with afterschool programs in South Florida. This story can be sung to the tune of “The 12 Days of Christmas,” so it’s easy for students to catch on, it has lots of repetition, and has opportunities for movements so students stay engaged.

While browsing the library shelves recently with my own kids, I found several NEW winter-themed singable stories and wanted to share them with you.

“Walking in a Winter Wonderland” by Richard B. Smith and Felix Bernard pairs perfectly with the song we are all familiar with, and has beautiful illustrations.

“If It’s Snowy and You Know It Clap Your Paws” by Kim Norman is based on the song “If You’re Happy and You Know It,” but gives it a winter-y twist. Again, this is perfect for early childhood classes and library sessions because the children and caregivers are already familiar with the tune and can easily sing along.

I hope these singable story recommendations give you some creative ideas for a musical experience you can add to your sessions this winter, or to cozy up and read at home!

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Earlier this week, I was Rockin’ and Readin’ at the Carroll Valley Library branch in Fairfield, Pennsylvania.

The library invited me to lead a session during toddler and preschool story time, and we had a blast!

Today, I’m sharing a few ways I turned a typical holiday sing-a-long into an interactive, goal-oriented session for the children and their family members.

See which ones would work for your clients and students!

Sign Language – Prompt children to sign along with the songs. We did the signs for “antlers,” “nose” and “glows” while we sang “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.” And, the sign for “snow” as we sang “Let It Snow.”

Props/Manipulatives – I always love to bring in hand held items for sensory stimulation and to give children something to hold onto. Encourage children to move the parachute while singing “Hanukkah Oh Hanukkah.” During the upbeat rhythmic part of the song, bounce the parachute quickly; during the slower part, move it up and down slowly to match the tempo.

Instruments…with directions – Children can choose an instrument and are given instructions to follow during the songs. For example, I added a freeze portion to the song “Santa Claus is Coming To Town.” And for “Frosty the Snowman,” children were instructed to listen closely and raise their instrument high in the air every time we sang “Frosty.”

Add a Book – It wouldn’t be Rockin’ and Readin’ at the Library if we didn’t have a singable story added to the mix. For this session, I brought in “The Twelve Days of Christmas” by Jane Cabrera (she’s got other great singable story books as well). Her adaptation of this familiar song is adorable, and lends itself to a music session perfectly. For example, there are drumming dogs and a party in a pear tree!

These few additions turned a regular ol’ sing-a-long into an interactive session that gave the children the chance to practice developmental skills (i.e. moving the parachute with the group to practice social skills; and listening for cues and following direction to work on impulse control and attention skills.)

I love Rockin’ and Readin’ at the Library and will be back at the Carroll Valley Library in Fairfield, Pennsylvania on Wednesday, January 4th from 10:00-10:30am for Baby Story Time!

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In addition to the music therapy services and adapted lessons we offer to children and teens with special needs, there’s another side of my business that I love: our developmental music classes.

We’ve been working together with the Miami-Dade Public Library System since 2010 to offer these early childhood music classes at library branches throughout Miami-Dade County.

(Rockin’ & Readin’ at the Library is one of the topics I receive the most emails about from music therapists & educators. Read this post and this post to find out more information about how I started these programs at the library).

The classes are completely free (thanks to generous grant funding) and open to children of all abilities.

We offer Toddler Rock for toddlers ages 19 months – 2 1/2 years old and Rockin’ & Readin’ for preschoolers ages 3-5.

These sessions are so much fun to lead.

At any given session, you might find us:

• Giving high fives to work on social skills
• Shaking maracas to work on gross and fine motor skills
• Reading a singable story like “Polar Bear, Polar Bear What Do You Hear?” by Eric Carle to work on expressive communication
• Moving the parachute and stretchy band to work on receptive communication and direction following
• Singing songs about colors, letters, and body parts

We’ve had a blast this month facilitating sessions, meeting families, and sharing with them about how they can use music at home to enrich their child’s development.

If you’re in Miami, and would like to attend an upcoming class, we would love to see you. Here are our upcoming session dates in 2020 –

Rockin’ & Readin’ for Preschoolers
January 27th @ 10:30am: Claire will be at the Northeast Dade Branch

Toddler Rock
February 3rd @ 11:00am: Claire will be at the Key Biscayne Branch

February 4th @ 10:30am: Clarice will be at the Miami Beach Regional Branch

February 13th @ 11:00am: Amy will be at the Lakes of the Meadow Branch

March 5th @ 10:15am: Clarice will be at the Miami Springs Branch

March 20th @ 11:00am: Amy will be at the West Dade Regional Branch

All sessions are free and open to children of all abilities, but you must call the library branch to register as space is limited.

We look forward to seeing you at one of our upcoming classes!

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Halloween is approaching and I don’t know about you, but I am loving coming up with my session plans this month.

If you’ve read my blog posts in the past, you know I love a good themed session plan.

Halloween is especially fun because there are so many interesting characters to incorporate (witches, ghosts, and goblins), themes to create songs about (costumes, trick-or-treating, and pumpkins) and so many ways you can address sensory needs (using cobwebs, glow in the dark lanterns, and my favorite – those cinnamon scented broom sticks!)

If you’re in need of some new Halloween intervention ideas for your sessions with kids and teens, check out the following posts:

“Cause This is Thriller!” Halloween Session Ideas for Teens: Here you’ll learn about a musical song/story using the book “Inside a House That is Haunted” and a movement activity to MJ’s “Thriller” (this one is always a crowd favorite!)

Halloween is Coming…Are You Ready for Some Sensory Ideas? In this post I share some sensory ideas to work on visual tracking and provide tactile stimulation. These interventions incorporate floating ghosts, glowing lanterns and spooky cobwebs…oh my!

It’s Fall Ya’ll: Halloween Theme: Here you’ll learn how to create a Halloween-themed session and see a list of some of my favorite spooky books to use for book ‘n song activities.

It’s Fall Ya’ll: Halloween Books & Ideas: In this post, see how I use the book “We’re Off to Find the Witch’s House” paired with instruments to work on attention, impulse control and expressive language.

There you have it! Now let’s get session planning!

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I don’t know about you, but I’m not ready to put my summer session plans away just yet!

I love using my uke and singing about relaxing days at the beach.

There are so many creative ways to design sensory, cognitive, and movement activities around a beach theme (click here to check out some of those ideas that you can implement right away).

I have a few more ideas to share that have worked out well:

– Book ‘n Songs (aka singable stories): “Beach Day” by Karen Roosa, “Beach Feet” by Lynn Reiser, “Beach Day” by Maggie Smith, and “Summer Days and Nights” by Wong Herbert Yee…and my FAVE which I mentioned last week: “To the Beach” by Linda Ashman.

– Beach Ball: Toss the beach ball on the parachute while moving it up and down like ocean waves.

– Suntan Lotion: Rub suntan lotion on different parts of the body to work on body part recognition AND to provide oflactory stimulation (I love the smell of suntan lotion, don’t you? Takes me right to the beach.)

– Bubbles: Pop bubbles to work on finger isolation and the “p” sound as the children say “Pop pop pop!”

We have a few more weeks to enjoy some beach activities in our music therapy sessions and then it will be back to school time!

Hope you’re having a great summer and that you can use some of these ideas in your sessions this week!

The post Need More Beach Theme Ideas? appeared first on Wholesome Harmonies, LLC.

It’s no secret that I love Fall and I love Halloween.

I find that there’s something about the season and holidays that sparks my creativity for planning new ideas.

Since I lead many sessions at our local library branches, I’m always looking for books to incorporate into my sessions.

Here are links to videos where I composed music to go along with the books: “Nightsong” and “Big Pumpkin.”

See the image above for more books that pair nicely with a song or instrumental music. (“We’re Going on a Ghost Hunt” is super cute!)

“We’re Off to Find the Witch’s House” is another great book I found this year. It’s a story about some children going trick-or-treating and the spooky friends they meet along the way.

I paired an instrument with each spooky character. For example, we used the canary stick to represent the owl, the clatterpillar to represent the skeleton, the sand blocks to represent the mummy’s shuffling feet, and the thunder tube to represent Frankenstein.

We also used the drum to represent knocking on the door when the trick-or-treaters arrived at the witch’s house.

This book is great for working on attention, impulse control and expressive language. There is a phrase that repeats throughout the book, “We’re going to the witch’s house, but we’re not afraid.” I prompted the children to repeat the phrase “But we’re not afraid.”

This allowed them to work towards their goal of increasing expressive language by speaking a 3-4 word utterance.

That’s all for now!

I hope you’re enjoying your Halloween sessions as much as I am.

Leave any book recommendations in the comment section below. I’d love to add some new books to my list!

The post It’s Fall Ya’ll: Halloween Books & Ideas appeared first on Wholesome Harmonies, LLC.

I’ve been on a library kick the past few weeks.

I’ve been having an amazing time planning for my sessions at the library, which include baby and toddler classes and Rockin’ & Readin’ sessions for children of all abilities, including those with special needs.

If you lead sessions at the library or if you want to incorporate more book ‘n songs into your sessions, be sure you’re signed up for our mailing list by clicking here.

As soon as you sign up, you’ll receive a brand new PDF resource I created – “20 Best Books to Use in Book ‘n Song Activities.”

These are some very specific things I look for when I choose a book to put to music and use in my music therapy sessions. I look for at least one of these things:

• The book has large, colorful illustrations.
• The pages are not overly cluttered with pictures or words (I’ve found that simple is better).
• There is some way the children can “interact” with the book – by lifting a flap, pulling a tab, or feeling a texture.
• The book incorporates some kind of academic concept (counting, numeral identification, letters, colors, etc.)
• The phrases or storyline allow children to participate (there’s a phrase they can repeat or some action they can do). I don’t ever want the children ‘just’ sitting there and listening – they need to be actively involved in the activity.

The list I created has books that incorporate one or more of the above criteria.

Here are a few more Book ‘n Song Resources for you:

• Read this blog post “Create Your Own Book ‘n Songs” which has more tips for you
• Watch this video where I use the book “Color Dance” to teach my kindergarten class about mixing colors.

I’ve had great success just going to the children’s section of the library and pulling out books to see what I can find. Oftentimes, I’ve found the more interesting and engaging books that way.

So be sure you’re signed up for the newsletter list to receive the “20 Best Books to Use in Book ‘n Song Activities” today!

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I just got back from taking my little one to story time and our local library and let me tell you, she loves it!

Now that she’s one, everything is more fun.

She’s getting into the movements of each song and she’s very observant of the librarians when they read.

I lead baby and toddler developmental music classes at library branches all across Miami (check out our Developmental Programs page for details!) and Brooke has given me so many ideas for things I can add into my sessions. (More on that in an upcoming blog post!)

Because she and I spend so much time at the library, I have tons of opportunities to grab books for my developmental music classes.

Recently, I found a few gems.

Jane Cabrera has a series of books that incorporate and expand on popular songs. This week in my sessions I’ve been using “Row, Row, Row Your Boat,” “Over in the Meadow” (my favorite!) and “If You’re Happy and You Know It.”

These books are beautifully illustrated and lend themselves perfectly to book n’ song activities because they incorporate concepts I’m already addressing in my sessions (identifying animals, movement, numeral identification, and counting just to name a few).

I typically use all my own original songs in sessions, but during my developmental music classes I like to also incorporate pre-existing, well-known songs so parents can sing along right away and use these songs at home.

Be sure to check out Jane Cabrera’s books – she has quite a selection to choose from.

And if you’re looking for even more books to add to your book ‘n song collection, be sure to hop on our newsletter list today. I’ll be sending out a list of the “20 Best Books to Use in Book ‘n Song Activities” next week to newsletter subscribers – you don’t want to miss out on that!

Now I’d love to hear from you…

What is your favorite book to use in your book ‘n song activities. Leave a comment below to let us know!

The post New Book ‘n Songs To Add To Your Collection appeared first on Wholesome Harmonies, LLC.

Because these sessions take place at the library, many of the interventions target early literacy skills. We work on letter identification, rhyming words, letter sounds, and of course incorporate at least one Book ‘n Song into each session.

It’s easy to incorporate Book ‘n Songs into your sessions too!

Today I’m sharing some tips for how to choose appropriate books AND write your own, original songs to go with them:

a) Find books with lots of repetition
Always be thinking – what are the children going to be doing throughout this activity? I like to choose a book that has a phrase repeated throughout so the children can anticipate and begin to sing along with that phrase.

“From Head to Toe” by Eric Carle is one of my favorite books to sing because the phrase “I can do it” repeats on every other page. Many of the children I see are working on speaking 3-4 word utterances, so this repeated phrase gives them the perfect opportunity to practice this. I also add the movement of tapping the chest on the word “I” and the movement of putting the hand up in the air for “can do it!” for those children in the group who are not yet verbal.

b) Find books with great pictures
Verbal identification of pictures is a goal for many of the children I work with. A book with beautiful, visually appealing pictures can help facilitate this.

c) Find books with catchy words or phrases
This can be really fun! “This Jazz Man” by Karen Ehrhardt is the perfect example. Phrases like “bippity bop pippity!” and “beedely bop bi bop!” are just plain fun to say…and offer multiple opportunities to practice those bilabial sounds.

d) Find books that are multisensory
I love a book with textures, flaps or any other way the children can be “tactile-y” involved. The ‘Touch and Feel’ series by DK Publishing has books that incorporate different textures on each page.

The book What’s in the Jungle?” by Pete Seymour is one of my favorite books to sing with, as it has flaps that hide the animal you’re singing about. “Whose Mommy is This?” by Charles Reasoner is another fave. This book has animals’ hiding’ and the children can pull the page out to see which animal is there.

e) Finally…you don’t need to sing every word on the page
I vary the lyrics for my song depending on the age and level of the children I’m working with. Sometimes I’ll simplify the lyrics or create my own if the words on the page are too complex. Just use the illustrations as a guide for how to create the song!

Well, there you have it. These are just a few guidelines to get you started in creating your own singable stories.

I would suggest just visiting the children’s section of the library and see what you can find!

In the meantime, check out a few examples of some of my original Book ‘n Songs:

“Ten Little Fingers” {This one is perfect for my Baby Rock & Toddler Rock sessions!}

“Color Dance” {Watch the video & see how I incorporate colorful scarves!}

“My First Book of the Body”

Now I’d love to hear from YOU! Leave a comment below and let me know your favorite singable storybook.

Image courtesy of Phaitoon at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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I love when my clients inspire me and give me new ideas for interventions during my music therapy sessions.

This happened a few weeks ago and I’ve been using the idea ever since.

One little guy I work with individually loves book and songs. I use this type of musical experience to work on expressive language, identification of pictures, sequencing of events, and recall of a story.

As excited as he was to see what would happen next in the book, he would always flip through pages faster than I was singing through them. Sometimes he would flip right to the end of the book and just hang out there.

I would tell him “Wait – don’t turn the page yet” and “Go back,” but it didn’t work. This little guy is a smart guy – he understood what he was supposed to be doing, but for some reason it was not clicking.  I decided I needed a more creative – and musical – approach. (This approach seems to be working for me!)

Here’s what I told him: “When you hear this sound (insert maraca shake), it’s time to turn the page. Don’t turn it before! Only when you hear this sound (insert maraca shake).”

It worked.

Not only is the maraca cueing him musically, but we are working on impulse control and auditory perception skills at the same time. Sometimes I’ll even throw in a different instrument sound just to make sure he’s really listening.

We still have the occasional excited page turn ahead of time, but now all I have to say is “Did you hear the maraca yet?” and that’s enough to remind him.

Now I want to hear from YOU! What creative twists have your clients inspired in your music therapy interventions? Leave a comment below and let us know!

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