JANUARY
Had To Have High, High, Hopes – New Year’s session ideas for school-age students and teens to get the new year started off right.
A Frosty Musical Mad Lib – The perfect way to work on parts of speech with school-age students.
I’m Dreaming of a Winter That’s Not Warm – In this blog post I share some winter-themed session ideas. It’s snowflakes and snowmen galore, plus a singable story that you already know the tune to!
How To Make the Nutcracker Cool – See how I used listening sheets, movement activities, instrument exploration, and the nutrocker to engage my clients in a Nutcracker-themed session.
Click here for a free Nutcracker Listening Guide – Perfect for use in music classrooms and music therapy sessions with school-age clients.
Frosty Session Ideas + The Snowball Chant – Grab some winter-themed session ideas that work on parts of speech, direction following and motor skills.
FEBRUARY
Musical Games – Valentine’s Day BINGO – Musical games are a great way to work on social interaction and group cohesion. Find out how you can grab a V-Day-themed BINGO template for use in your sessions.
Put a Little Love in Your Heart – Valentine’s Day songwriting. Feel the love.
More LOVE-ly Ideas for Valentine’s Day – Check out this Valentine’s Day session plan that will engage your entire group.
MARCH
St. Paddy’s Day Session Ideas – Learn how I play a game I created called ‘Irish…or Not Irish?’, find out how I facilitate ‘playing a rainbow’, and see how I incorporate “Somewhere Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World” into this holiday-themed session.
MORE St. Paddy’s Day Session Ideas – Irish jig anyone? Play the game “Where is the leprechaun?” and end with a poem and relaxation to one of my favorite Irish tunes.
APRIL & MAY
So May Spring Scents – Learn the Spring-y scents you can use to provide olfactory stimulation for your clients. And, listen to the original song, “So Many Scents” that you can sing when introducing these scents. (MP3 + sheet music are available!)
Springtime Sounds – See how you can provide auditory stimulation and work on localization by using instruments that depict spring sounds (I love seeing my clients’ reactions to the quacker).
Beautiful Colors – Learn how you can use scarves, ribbons or streamers to provide visual stimulation and work on tracking. For a Spring-y twist, substitute flowers (real or paper) in a variety of vibrant colors.
Little Red Riding Hood ~ The Musical – Read how I put together a spring musical that included original songs, costumes, and lines to learn.
Little Red Riding Hood Performance – See pictures from the actual performance – the costumes were great!
JUNE
Graduation is Approaching – Watch this video of one of our star singers singing the graduation song he wrote with his class, “It’s Always More Fun.”
Graduation Day – Click to see the lyrics of the song the children wrote for their Graduation performance.
JULY & AUGUST
Combining Music + Art: A Hawaiian Theme – Bring out your leis and your ukuleles. In this post you’ll learn how to facilitate a Hawaiian-themed music and art experience.
I Like to Go to the Beach ~ A Multisensory Experience – Mangoes to provide olfactory and gustatory stimulation? Sun tan lotion to provide tactile and olfactory stimulation? Yes please! Find out how music ties it all together.
Dive into this 3-part series of Camping-Themed Session Ideas:
1) A Camping We Will Go – See how we roasted marshmallows with rhythm sticks over a drum to work on motor skills, sang camp songs to work on expressive language and sang a marshmallow counting song to work on math skills. Read on to find the songs I used and how you can facilitate these activities with your clients as well.
2) A Camping We Will Go…Some More – Singing in rounds to work on selective attention…playing rainbow handbells and singing “I Love the Mountains” to work on divided attention…all the details on these camping-themed activities (and goals!) are here.
3) A Camping We Will Go…With Our Senses – Marshmallows used for olfactory stimulation and lantern lights to work on visual tracking? Those are just a few of the sensory-based ideas that are part of this camping-themed session plan.
SEPTEMBER
It’s Fall Ya’ll: Apples, Apples Everywhere – Here I share my apple themed session ideas for September sessions.
OCTOBER
Halloween-Themed Auditory Perception Training Exercises – See how you can use The Ghostbusters Theme Song and The Monster Mash to work on attention and perception skills (like listening and following directions).
Spooky Music Listening for School-Age Students – Find out three creepy classical pieces you can use to work on improving listening skills and sustained attention, and to practice using adjectives.
Halloween Rhythm Repeat {for tweens & teens} – This musical experience involves rhythm sticks, Halloween phrases and imitation. It also has multiple levels of participation for groups with clients of mixed abilities.
Click here for a FREE Halloween Rhythm Combos PDF – This musical experience targets expressive language, auditory perception skills, direction following AND impulse control.
The Costume Rap {for tweens & teens} – Learn a simple rap to facilitate verbal & nonverbal communication skills during Halloween (MP3 available!).
It’s Fall Ya’ll: Halloween Theme – In this post I share my spooky Halloween themed session ideas.
It’s Fall Ya’ll: Halloween Books & Ideas – Here you’ll find even more Halloween session ideas and how I incorporate books into my themed sessions.
The Making of Our Halloween Musical ~ Part 1 – The children created everything for this Halloween musical: they wrote the story, helped design costumes, designed background scenery, AND created tickets and signs.
The Making of Our Halloween Musical ~ Part 2 – The children practiced….and practiced…and practiced. Listen to the original songs we wrote for the musical, too!
Showtime! Our Halloween Musical Debut – Look at pictures from the performance day – the children were STARS.
Halloween is Coming…Are You Ready for Some Sensory Ideas? – Flying ghosts, light up lanterns & pumpkins with cobwebs…read this post to see how I incorporate these items into my sensory-based Halloween sessions.
“Cause This is Thriller!” Halloween Session Ideas for Teens – Halloween musical song story with instruments AND creative movement to MJ’s Thriller. My teen group loved these interventions.
We Are Spiders – An original move & groove song for Halloween. Sheet music + mp3 available!
Book ‘n Song: “Nightsong” – Watch this video and listen to the musical score I composed to match what was happening in the book – Reading Rainbow style.
Book ‘n Song: “Big Pumpkin” – Watch this video and listen to the musical score I composed to mimic what was happening in the story, “Big Pumpkin.”
NOVEMBER
It’s Fall Ya’ll: Turkeys, Turkeys Everywhere – Here I share Thanksgiving & turkey-themed session ideas.
The Leaves Are Falling One By One – See how this singable story can be used to address expressive language skills, math skills AND motor skills.
The Sights & Smells of Fall – Get a list of Fall sensory experiences that stimulate the nose and ears.
DECEMBER
Hand Bells For The Holidays – Find out the perfect song to play on hand bells for the holidays.
Game Show Network-Inspired Musical Games for the Holidays – These musical games are perfect for clients of all ages, especially tweens and teens.
A “Sensational” Holiday Session Plan – Learn how you can access a holiday music therapy session plan that will provide you with creative, developmentally appropriate ideas that incorporate all the senses.
“I Am Santa” {VIDEO + Free Sheet Music!} – Need a new simple Santa song to use in your holiday sessions? Check this one out by watching the video.
UCP Holiday Spectacular 2011 – Our 2011 holiday show included everything from a hand bell choir performance to a Chinese New Year song with a gong solo.
UCP Holiday Spectacular 2012 – Our 2012 holiday show included a presentation of the Nutcracker, a performance of “Carol of the Bells” on tone chimes, and a festive holiday sing-a-long.
Ho- Ho- How To Teach The Kazoo At Christmastime – Here’s a simple and creative way to teach young children to play the kazoo. You likely already know the song!
