I’ve recently been beefing up my arsenal of activities for the school-age population (grades K-5).

Two years ago I started working at a school for children with special needs, and it’s been a great exercise in creativity for me!

I have lots of ideas for working with children and teens, but not many that are specifically created for the school-age population.

(There was the Noun Rap, though! Remember that?)

Now that the school is in summer camp mode, we have a different theme each week. This week’s theme is Under the Stars, and the activities are all about camping.

I’ll admit, this one made me a little nostalgic. I was a Girl Scout and I spent many summers at sleep away camp hiking, singing songs around the campfire, and making s’mores.

So, I was more than a little excited to get to work planning camping-themed music therapy activities for my PreK and K-5 students.

Here were some of the hits:

1. Camping Hello Song + Book – To get the activities started in the right direction, we sang a camping hello song. I brought in a book I found at the library called “Down the River” by Andrew Weiner. Instead of using the words in the book as song lyrics, I chose to use the beautiful pictures to show the steps we take to start camping.

To the tune of “Farmer in the Dell” we sang:
A camping we will go, a camping we will go, heigh ho we’re on the go, a camping we will go.
We’re packing up our car, we’re packing up our car, heigh ho we’re on the go, we’re packing up our car.
We’re driving in our car…
We’re pulling on our boots…
We’re fishing in the lake…
We caught a great big fish…
A camping we will go…

For the PreK and K students, we did movements for each verse of the song (for example, pretending to drive a car). For the students in grades 1-5, we did rhythmic body percussion to keep the beat: pat / clap / clap. They got really into it, and it sure was a great exercise in selective attention for them to keep that rhythm up while I sang something different.

Goals – To increase expressive language and to improve selective attention.

2. Roasting Marshmallows and Hot dogs over the Campfire – When I said this idea out loud to my husband, I kind of laughed at myself because it sounded so silly. But let me tell you, this idea was a COMPLETE HIT! I put red, orange and yellow scarves inside a drum…that was our camp fire. Each student got one rhythm stick…that was their roaster.

Then we sang the Campfire Pokey (shared by various library blogs on the web)!

To the tune of “Hokey Pokey” we sang:
You put your marshmallow in, you put your marshmallow out, you put your marshmallow in and you shake it all about. Do the campfire pokey and you turn yourself around. That’s what it’s all about. Yum, yum!
You put your hot dog in, you put your hot dog out…
You put your ___________ (students fill in blank for what they want to roast)

Goals – To improve gross and fine motor skills.

3. Counting Marshmallows – This activity was for the PreK and K students only, since they were working on counting. I laid out ten marshmallows (real ones!) and asked the students one at a time to pick up a roaster (aka rhythm stick) and point to one marshmallow at a time as we counted.

To the tune of “Ten Little Indians” we sang:
1 little, 2 little, 3 little marshmallows,
4 little, 5 little, 6 little marshmallows,
7 little, 8 little, 9 little marshmallows,
10 marshmallows in a row. Yum, yum!

Goals – To improve knowledge of academic concepts (specifically, counting to ten).

We had so much fun during these goal-based activities. I love planning around a theme that brings back so many positive memories!

Next week, we’ll continue on as I share how I use the xylophone and handbells to facilitate singing camp songs. Stay tuned!

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Just scroll through Pinterest and you’ll see the ideas out there are endless!

One of the best resources I’ve found for creating visuals for my academic activities is a site called FileFolderFun.com.

This site has free printables that can be used to create file folder games. These games are visually appealing AND easy to store (I keep them all tucked away in a file folder organizer). I love this site not just for the free printables, but also because it helps me generate some news ideas and themes to bring into my sessions.

You can search by subject or by grade. Once you find a game you like, just print it, laminate it and glue or staple it into a file folder. Then you’re all set to go!

Below is the Cupcake Count File Folder game (a favorite of the clients with whom I work!) I use this game, along with an original song I wrote called “Yummy Yummy Cupcakes,” to address the following concepts:

• Counting (count the cherries on the cupcake)
• Numeral identification, 1-10
• Matching numeral to quantity

Want to hear the song and see how I facilitate this intervention?

Click below to watch a video of me using this song and game with a client during individual music therapy (video shared with written parental consent):

I hope you’ll find FileFolderFun.com as useful as I have! Happy session planning!

The post Favorite Resource for Addressing Academic Concepts (Part 2) appeared first on Wholesome Harmonies, LLC.

Hello blog readers!

This week I led a Mommy & Me at the Library Music Session at the Key Biscayne Library and boy did we have fun!

We did a song story about baby animals, sang the blues with mini microphones, twirled with rainbow colored streamers, danced a country hoe-down with the parachute, and played peek-a-boo with mommy and our scarves (I think this was the most popular activity by far!)

Another program I facilitate at local libraries is Rockin’ and Readin’, where we use music to address literacy skills. I also try to incorporate other academic concepts into my sessions for the older children that attend.

One of those concepts is math.

Truth be told, math was never one of my favorite subjects in school, but I’ve found that when I combine music + math, it is  a winning combination.

Check out these articles where I share how you can address math skills in your music therapy sessions:

Cupcakes + Music + Math = A Winning Combination (video included!)

Fun with File Folder Games (includes one of my favorite resources!)

Drumming by Number

I Like to Eat Ice Cream

Hopefully these ideas will inspire you to incorporate math concepts into your music therapy sessions!

Now I’d love to hear from YOU! Leave a comment below and let us know how you address math skills in your music therapy sessions.

The post Music + Math in Therapy appeared first on Wholesome Harmonies, LLC.

(By the way, my favorite discussion so far with my preschoolers went like this: One child: “Amy got married!” Another: “She graduated!” I love how their minds work.)

Today, I am sharing a video that goes along with this blog post: Fun with File Folder Games. This post generated a lot of positive feedback and I’m glad people found this resource as cool as I did.

Here is a video clip of an individual music therapy session where I mix cupcakes, music, and math to work on a concept that is in many of the children’s IEPs: matching numeral and quantity. I use the cupcake file folder game along with an original song I wrote to work on this math concept.

It doesn’t hurt that I absolutely love cupcakes. Check out the song and activity here:

Leave a comment below and let me know how YOU address math skills in your music therapy sessions!

The post Cupcakes + Music + Math = A Winning Combination appeared first on Wholesome Harmonies, LLC.

As I type this post Steve and I are about 3 weeks away from our wedding day! I could not be more excited!

Thank you to everyone who replied or commented on my Here Comes the Bride Post with fun song suggestions for our reception. We have lots of great songs to choose from – let me know if you think of any more!

Amidst the whirlwind and excitement of wedding planning, I have not forgotten the importance of immersing myself totally and completely in my music therapy sessions, and leaving all else outside the door. (That seems to be a pretty good rule of thumb at other times as well!)

As I’ve written about, I love when my clients are the ones who help me generate new and creative ideas. Last week, I watched one of the children I work with line up four drums in a row and begin playing them in a random order. That sparked this idea:

Drumming By Number:

I lined up four drums.

I placed a number on each drum: 1, 2, 3, 4.

I told him: “Listen, watch, and repeat after me.”

Then I played one drum at a time while saying the number of that drum. For example: “1, 2, 3, 4”

Then he repeated back by playing the drum and saying the corresponding number: “1, 2, 3, 4”

Then I played: “2, 4, 3, 1”

He echoed back and played “2, 4, 3, 1”

This continued for a while. Then we switched and HE was the leader and I followed the patterns he came up with.

* Variations: add drums of different sizes and timbres. Add more numbers. Use letters. The list goes on and on depending on what your client need to work on. Just yesterday during this activity I began singing on a different pitch for each number (1 = do, 2 = re, 3 = me, 4 = fa). Very effective!

It was the coolest experience because we both were partners in coming up with the activity. He was so engaged, we did this activity (with variations) for TEN MINUTES!!! That is a long time for any child to attend to an activity, no matter how engaging it is.

In that time, we packed in skill-building in many different areas: sequencing, imitation, attention, improvising, eye-hand coordination, just to name a few. I am looking forward to adding many different variations on this activity. For now, I would love to hear from YOU!

Leave a comment below and let me know how you use drumming to work on the skills I listed above (imitation, improvising, sequencing, etc.)

Image courtesy of [africa] / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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I don’t know about you, but sometimes it’s refreshing to just drop all the things you were “supposed to do” from your To Do list and just spend time with family and enjoy a beautiful day.

That is just what I did yesterday, which is why I didn’t get the chance to write my usual Saturday morning blog post. I was busy enjoying a belated Christmas get-together with my in-laws.

Now I’m ready to get to work today and share with you one of my favorite resources: a website called File Folder Fun.

This website has amazing printouts to help you create file folder games for your sessions with preschool and school age children. I am so happy I found this website – it has been an incredible resource and has helped me generate some new ideas for addressing academic concepts in my music therapy sessions.

Here is a picture of the Cupcake Count File Folder Game:

{Click here to watch a video of me using this game in one of my individual music therapy sessions!}

I have a song that goes along with this game that addresses three main math concepts: counting (count the cherries on the cupcake), identifying numerals 1-10, and matching numeral to quantity. These are concepts that many of the children I work with at UCP’s Early Beginnings Academy have on their IEP (Individualized Education Plan).

Here is a picture of the Alpha Animals (Beginning Letter) File Folder Game:

I have a song that goes along with this game where I sing: “I am a horse and I start with letter ___.” The children identify the letter and place the picture on that letter.

Super fun and easy. Go over to the File Folder Fun website and see what visuals you can print out for your file folder games.

What other websites do you use to print out file folder games?

Leave a comment below and let us know!

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Welcome to another edition of…Saturday Song Share!

The weather has been unbearably hot here in Miami (as always!) With that being the case, I thought it would be appropriate to release my song entitled “I Like to Eat Ice Cream.”  I can eat ice cream any time of year, but there is nothing better than cold ice cream on a hot summer day :)

Today’s ice cream song addresses math concepts such as number recognition and counting. My visuals for this song are: a laminated paper cone, laminated numbers, and laminated scoops of ice cream.  Each time a number is sung in the song (“I think I’ll have….8!”) the child is instructed to add that many scoops of ice cream to the cone.

“I Like to Eat Ice Cream” can also be used to address concepts of more and less. Sheet music for this song includes more ideas for implementation in the area of math skills.

Here’s the song!

Image courtesy of [digitalart] / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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