Happy Saturday Song Share! I hope you've been enjoying the latest: Flora the Fish (for your beachy session plans) and Say Hello and Shake Hands (a greeting song for kids!) Today's song is for your instrument jam sessions. Whether you're using drums, bells, shakers, or any other type of instrument, this song will be great! Have [...]
It's time for another Saturday Song Share! Woot woot! Last week's song share was a High Five song (always a popular way to greet a friend!). Today's song share is another greeting song...this one encourages children to say hello and shake hands. This is one of my favorite original songs....I think because of the minor key. [...]
I'm SUPER excited to write this blog post! Last week, I started a brand, spanking *new* music therapy group! This group came about from talking with one of the parents whose children I work with. She works with the Down Syndrome Association of Miami and asked if I would be interested in offering a summer [...]
It's time for a Saturday Song Share! I've been sharing songs here and there, and today I'm super excited to start a new regular series for Wholesome Harmonies - Saturday Song Share! So mark your calendar and stay tuned. Here goes! Greeting songs are an important part of my music therapy sessions for children with [...]
We have a *newly updated* Songs for Kids web page! There you'll find a variety of my original songs that that can be used in your music therapy sessions or music classes! The songs address a variety of goals and fall under the following domains: Academic, Communication, Move & Groove, Social Skills, and Sense-ational. When you visit the page, [...]
I can't believe it is May already! I say this every time a new month starts, but it really does feel like it was just yesterday that we were starting the new school year. As I've mentioned in previous posts, I work full-time in United Cerebral Palsy's preschool and charter school, Early Beginnings Academy. I [...]
Visual Stimulation Today's song will continue my series on Sense-ational Activities, those that target the five senses. I use this song when I am facilitating visual tracking goals and providing visual stimulation to my clients with severe and profound intellectual disability. Initially, I used this song in UCP's sensory room, which has a tube with water and bubbles that light [...]
Sing your heart out week continues!! Here is a song I use during my instrument playing activities, particularly those involving the xylophone and glockenspiel. I take out the 'B' and 'F' bars and the song fits perfectly. Also, the song lyrics can be individualized for different children using different instruments, for example "Danny plays the drum!" [...]
This week I am on vacation from my job as a music therapist at UCP's Early Beginnings Academy. Yay! But, I'm not off from my work at Wholesome Harmonies! So, I decided this would be a great opportunity to share some new songs with you! Each day this week I will share a new song, [...]
One of my favorite session activities is using color-coded notation to teach children how to play xylophone, piano, and hand bells. Here is a video of two children I see for individual music therapy using color-coded notation to play the xylophone (or as my nephew calls it, the "ex-lophone :)). I didn't need to give them much [...]