Winter is a time for gathering, celebrating, and sharing music that reflects the magic of the season. I'm thrilled to share 7 winter-themed songs with you, which have quickly become a favorite among music educators, music therapists and families.
Looking for gift ideas for a music therapist in your life? Are you a music therapist looking for inspiration for things to add to your wishlist? Wanting a list with gift options for your loved ones to choose from? We got you!
Scarves are such a fun prop to use with students! There are so many ways you can use scarves and various skills you can work on with them! We have two scarf songs for you to check out this fall: “Blowing in the Wind” and “Swirly Whirly Scarves”.
Here are some ideas for your back to school to make planning a bit easier and start this school year off right!
I keep finding myself sifting through music for songs to help my 4-year-old feel more relaxed. There's something about this time of year (new school year, new routine) that tends to trigger stress. We've been using a lot of music. I know music is my "thing", but as a parent, I'm so incredibly grateful for it. It can halt escalating emotions and take them in a completely different direction.
We had some weekend visitors stay at our house not too long ago and they brought their sweet 18-month old. He was sick, missed a nap and was overstimulated after a long day in the sun. Predictably, he had a rough time calming down for a nap. Before long, it escalated to him being completely inconsolable. Within minutes, he was fast asleep. The method I used is something I've used time and time again with music therapy clients and my own daughter.
The music therapist in me has a pretty big {and useful} toolbox at my disposal. My 4-year-old is running circles around the house yelling that she's bored? I have a song for that! The neighbor kids are over, it's too hot to go outside and the volume is at an ELEVEN? Time to pull out anything and everything I have!
Over the years, there have been some stand-out winners in my toolbox. So here they are, for you to try in your own home.
Kids are wired to test boundaries. It's vital to their development and it helps them build the oh-so-important skill of independent thinking. (Well-behaved women rarely make history, right?) Even though we want our kids to learn to think freely and stand up for themselves, the way that it is expressed in that teeny, tiny 2-5 year-old body can be equally perplexing and exhausting.
When the sun is out and the days are long... there's nothing better than relaxing with some new music and staying up until the sun goes down.
OR...
The kids are bored, the house is a little more chaotic than you'd like and it would be JUST GREAT if the sun could just go down a fewwww hours earlier so the little ones go to bed and you can have some peace and quiet tonight.
That, too.
Imagine for a moment... it's Saturday morning. The house is dark and quiet and you've miraculously been able to sleep in until 9am.
(I'll let you stay in that dreamland for a moment.)
It's time to wake up. Music comes on and gently wakes you. It starts very quiet-- so quiet you can barely hear it-- and it gradually gets louder, coaxing you awake. It's music you love. What's your mood?
Now, imagine for a moment... the same scenario. It's Saturday morning in a dark, quiet house and you're blissfully able to sleep until 9am.
It's time to wake up. Then, as if there's a speaker right by your ear, IMMEDIATELY LOUD heavy metal music plays and shocks you out of bed. What's your mood now?
I'd like to think that the first 6 months of my daughter's life were only blissful and carefree... uh, nope. It was HARD. She was a preemie with sensory issues that she (mostly) outgrew, but the sight of a ceiling fan could send her into an I-WILL-SCREAM-AND-NOTHING-WILL-CALM-ME meltdown that would simultaneously send me into my own special kind of meltdown.
It's no coincidence that I am so passionate about helping parents and educators find the right music that can help kids through life's (inevitable) challenges. Being a music therapist who worked with kids with sensory needs set me up to be the ideal parent for my own daughter. The process was FAR from perfect, but we learned a lot together.
Something I didn't expect??? Music helped ME in a miraculous kind of way.
I have always loved lullabies. They're my absolute favorite to sing, write and play. I recommend picking one special lullaby to sing to your child over and over again throughout their childhood (recordings are okay, too, but live singing from a parent is the very best, according to music therapy research). For my daughter, that lullaby was a version of "Stay Awake" from Mary Poppins. My daughter was so used to that song as a "cue" for sleep that to this day, she yawns right when I sing the first few notes.
