Songbird Studio

I recently had the opportunity to review The Grateful Giraffe, by Giselle Shardlow.  It is a sweet book featuring a variety of animals corresponding to yoga poses for children.  I read the book and did the yoga flow with my kids one morning, and they really enjoyed it! Giselle has included tips for how to use the book and how to use yoga in general with kids, and I loved that! There are illustrations of kids performing the poses on each spread, which is very helpful for young ones who need information in as concrete a manner as possible.  I also really enjoyed the flow--it was one that I could probably teach to my kids to use without the book eventually.  We added a simple mindfulness component to the rest pose at the end.  As we lay in rest pose, we talked about five things we could see, five things we could touch or feel, and five things we could hear.  It was a nice way to bring closure to the activity and add in mindfulness. There is an extr...

A basic concept in art, music, and math, is how to create and recognize patterns.  Several students with developmental disabilities or on the autism spectrum have an affinity for basic patterns, enjoy sorting items by color, or building simple structures with blocks.  This art class workbox combines all of these aspects and challenges students through a series of patterns that increase in complexity.  Students may engage in free play with the blocks, follow the complete picture card series, or stop when the activity becomes too frustrating. I first saw this activity on Mama. Papa. Bubba. , but didn't have the same colors of blocks, so I made my own.  You can find this download as a freebie in my Teachers Pay Teachers store, right here !  More are available here on Your Therapy Source !

I am busy in the background redesigning my blog to reflect my passion--my unique combination of experience, skills, and interests--increasing the quality of life for people with severe disabilities through the use of music, art, and other leisure skills.  Stay tuned!

I love this song.  Festive and a fun spin on the traditional "Jingle Bells!"  Since it's a little more up-tempo, it's a great carol for kids, and since it's older, it's familiar and fun for adults, too! For my youngest kiddos, I do a simple add-on. Verses/Chorus ("Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock..."): Play jingle bells. Bridge ("What a bright time...") : Wave scarves. Use Christmas colors or fabric for the scarves for an added holiday touch. :) If you use the original , you can also add an easy xylophone/boomwhacker/keyboard pattern at the beginning of most stanzas: JINGLE BELL , JINGLE BELL , JINGLE BELL ROCK D                    C#                   B                    F# The...

Here is a fun and simple activity for your holiday music groups! Christmas Carol Bingo.   You can use recordings (YouTube helps me in a pinch) or provide the musical cues yourself with live music. I print these on white cardstock and laminate.  Groups members use bingo chips, beans, bingo daubers, or scraps of paper to cover the carols as they're used. I have small prizes that I give out, too, something simple like stickers, holiday Hershey's kisses, a mini holiday coloring book, or a small plush. I tweaked this idea originally found here .  Download Christmas Carol Bingo Version 1.0 here ! Included in this PDF are five different bingo cards and a list of the Christmas carols used on the cards, 25 in total.  These are a mix of religious and secular carols, and only for Christmas--I will update with religious only and secular only versions, plus more diverse versions, eventually! :) Thanks for visiting!

I finally got a parachute!  It has taken me way too many years to acquire one!  In fact, it's been a windfall year for parachutes--a 12' parachute was donated to me and a 6' parachute was finally found at a super affordable price that fit my budget.  I'm really glad it worked out that way, as I need the smaller one for my tiny groups, but the big one is great for my big groups and my big kids! After check-in, I like to begin my groups with a fun movement activity.  This energizes the group, increasing their attention and motivation for the course of the session, and setting the stage for whatever work we will do later.  Sometimes it's just something fun, and other times it is directly related to other goals we will address later in the group. This is a simple activity that is paired with a relatively recent pop song, so I find it appropriate to use with all ages of children.  Grab your parachute and a copy of " Shake It Off " by Taylo...

Last week, the prepared relaxation exercise I tried to use completely backfired on me...  I used a new piece of equipment and students were too excited about it to calm down and actually ended up getting quite escalated!  After two groups like that, I abandoned the idea (moving it to the gross motor slot at the *beginning* of group instead, much better suited for that!) and threw together something in the moment.  I loved it and it was so effective and calming.  It is going in the vault as a perennial relaxation favorite! I distributed ocean drums and rainsticks.  I sang the chorus of " Listen to the Water ," at a slow and gentle tempo, accompanied by simple fingerpicking on my guitar, while students explored their instruments.  After 2-3 choruses, with restful instrumental breaks in between, we passed instruments to the next person in the circle and explored a new instrument.  This was so well-received.  Everyone was focused and quiet....