I love exploring music with my clients, but being musical doesn’t always have to mean holding an instrument or tapping a drum. By bringing in different manipulatives, even non-musical ones, we can utilize three dimensional visuals, attend to sensory needs, and even save a few dollars. Which, let’s face it, is always a plus!
Stuffed animals are fantastic for working on counting, animal identification, and motor skills. Whether it be “Ten Little Monkeys Jumping On The Drum”, or “Down on Grandpa’s Farm” stuffed animals can be used to facilitate academic topics while utilizing fine and gross motor skills.
What I love most about stuffed animals as manipulatives is that they cater to sensory needs. They incline a client to squeeze them, push and pull them, and self-monitor their sensory needs. When I know that a client has additional sensory needs I like to give them ideal options and ways to fulfill those needs, and self-monitor those needs all while addressing the goal area and specific objectives. I like to bring multiple textures, densities, and overall options as possible. Its all about choice, and seeing when the sensory options are a comfort versus a distraction.
Stuffed animals are just one of the many ways that we can think outside the box to provide a broad encompassing care for our clients and students. They are easily accessible and available in a variety of textures, colors, and characters. I would consider stuffed animals one of my must haves in my music therapy materials kit! What about you? How do you think out of the box for your students and clients?
In case you haven’t heard, ukuleles are all the rage these days. They are super popular with singer-songwriters, and we’ve had so many of our students spark an interest in learning how to play. We’ve always loved the uke, but their popularity surge inspired us to create a class for beginning strummers.
We’ve offered the class several times now, and we’re excited to start a new session in a couple weeks! The goal of 1-2-3, Learn Ukulele is to have students (many of whom have never picked up a stringed instrument) playing chords and then songs right from the get-go. Just recently, one of our students who had never formed a ukulele chord walked out of her first lesson able to play the entirety of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”!
While not everyone learns at quite that speed, the ukulele is easier to pick up than the guitar. It only has 4 strings as opposed to 6, and its petite size fits smaller hands better. What I love most about the ukulele is that the simplest chord progressions and songs perfectly suit its sweet sound; I think that’s why it has become so popular. You don’t have to be highly skilled to play, though there are certainly uke prodigies out there.
If your child is interested in playing a fun starter instrument, consider the ukulele! Our 8-week class begins on April 13, and we provide the ukes so that the only thing students need to participate is the willingness to learn. Click here for details and registration.
In my early days as a music therapist, adapting songs and interventions on the spot was a real challenge. I come from a performance background, so I’m all about rehearsing and then executing as practiced. But it didn’t take long to realize that approach just doesn’t work in the music therapy setting, especially when young children are involved.
Being flexible, creative, and quick on your feet are three essential characteristics of anyone who facilitates music groups or classes with kids. Alisabeth displayed all of the above a few weeks ago during our Listen & Learn for Little Ones class, when she realized that a song we had planned to use with the stretchy band just wasn’t going to work.
Although it had gone perfectly well as planned in an earlier class, this particular group of children was older and wanted to move more freely around the room. So Alisabeth put the stretchy band up instead of redirecting the kids and tweaked the song lyrics right there on the spot, all without interrupting the activity.
Did the new lyrics match the ones the parents were following in their binders? Nope, but nobody cared — because the kids were happy and engaged. As Alisabeth’s internship supervisor as well as the parent of a child in that class, I was super impressed by her quick thinking and ability to adapt to meet her students’ needs.
Don’t be afraid to stray from the binder, lesson plan, or whatever else you prepared, if it’s not working. Adapting is a skill that takes time to develop, but you’ll only get better with practice.
One of the biggest frustrations we faced during early childhood classes at our previous location was the placement of our instruments and equipment. We were constantly redirecting our students away from the guitar, which sat in a floor stand when we weren’t using it, and trying to keep little hands out of the drawers of our rolling instrument cart.
So when we moved to our new studio and had complete control over how the room was designed, our first priority was to structure the room in a way that instruments and equipment were out of reach and no longer a distraction for everyone.
We considered a few different solutions, and then one day Katey sent me a photo of the slatwall that was hung all over the walls of the music store in which we were previously located. Why didn’t we think of that sooner!?
So we picked up sheets of slatwall from our local hardware store, which were easy enough to drill into the walls and then stock with accessories for hanging and storing, which were purchased here.
We also installed guitar wall mounts in our group rooms and in our individual lesson/session rooms so that our guitars and ukuleles could be kept out of reach.
Our storage solutions have not only allowed us to keep our instruments and equipments better protected, but they have also made lots more floor space for our students and families during classes. This has come in very handy as our numbers have grown quite a bit since moving to our new studio!
Ever wonder what it takes to prep and clean up an early child hood group? The short time-lapse video at the end of this post shows exactly what I do before and after a class!
Each Listen & Learn Class requires a little effort to set-up and tear down.In our recent post “little details, big difference”, I outlined some of the small things we do to make our space more comfortable for the families we work with each week. On top of those small amenities we bring (hand sanitizer, a rug, tissues, etc), we carry instruments, binders, a book, and a guitar to and from our sessions.At the end of the session, everything gets packed up, taken to the other room, cleaned, and put away.This setup and cleanup generally takes about an extra 10 minutes before and after the session, making the total time for a class just over an hour.
When Rachel and I began working in our new group space, we were both incredibly excited. The space is only feet away from our instrument storage, the room is large, and the building centrally located in town. Even with all of the positives of our space, we had a few challenges to overcome.
Though the space is mostly empty, it is used by several different people so we needed to adapt it to make our clients a little more comfortable and willing to participate in groups. Here are some of the small changes we made to make a big different for our clients.
Adding a Colorful Area Rug
Having a rug helps define the space and creates a central location for children to come forward during story time or gather to play with larger instruments or movement props. It serves as a wonderful reference point when giving directions as well (ex. “Come sit on the rug”).
An area rug can also help cover unsightly or distracting things on the floor. The shiny outlet cover in this picture was a huge distraction during our first class and was quickly covered for future gatherings.
Not only is our rug functional, it adds to the overall aesthetic of the space, making it more “ours”. It’s also easy to roll up and store away after every class.
Storage on Wheels
Our rolling storage cart may be my favorite purchase thus far. This 3-drawer cart allows me to organize the instruments we are using in the group and store things out of sight of our group members.
Because my toddler-age group members like to explore on their own, I face the drawer pulls toward the wall so the drawers cannot be opened without turning the cart around. This usually discourages clients from getting into the drawers and give me more freedom to lead the group.
At the beginning and end of class, it’s so much more convenient to roll the cart back into our storage area then carry multiple bags and bins!
Little Amenities
We try to provide little things to make our clients feel more comfortable.
Anticipating their needs helps them feel more at home, willing to participate, and likely to come back again. Having small things like hand sanitizer and tissues can make a huge difference when someone is in need!
