Share some of your experiences with children of this age and level.

[Anonymous]

Share some of your experiences with children of this age and level.

Be sure to come back and respond to others as well.

[Aliza Llovet]

One activity that I like to bring in with this age is animal puppets. It allows tactile exploration of the material having the child open and close their hand on the puppet. You can bring in animal songs and could use the puppet along with bonding songs with tickles. It’s fun for tracking and for Infants that need black and white contrast might start with a cow and then maybe red rooster and can bring in other animals as vision improves.

[Erika Svolos]

Great insights and creativity! Thank you for sharing 🙂

[Amy Brownell]

I love this! I have so many Beanie Babies that I use for animal interventions since they aren’t worth anything anymore…

[Aliza Llovet]

Nostalgia Wins

[Amy Brownell]

I have had limited experiences with children in this age level at this point, however I do currently work with a group of babies in a daycare that I have had for several months who are closer to the older ages for SM1. I have experienced them sitting and staring while taking it all in, as well as their changes in expression once they become more comfortable with the group. I have found that they love instrument exploration – we start by giving a small shaker to each child, but as the songs progress, they will look in my bag for more or look to their peers to try (and often take) what they have. I have brought a large gathering drum and they have loved crawling up to it and playing it with their hands – some crawl up and play a few times before crawling away, and some sit at it for several minutes with their peers! Since starting this class, I have also incorporated more lap rides, and the children have responded so well through swaying with me to the music. After the lap rides they are more willing to come up to me, so it really has made the music group more of a bonding experience!

[Emily Fabian]

I do not currently have any experience with children at this level. However, I do use songs in the categories of gathering/greeting, songs about me, movement songs, and goodbye songs with children in the sprouting melodies 3 age range. I put together an instrument scavenger hunt that I guided the students through at the beginning of the school year that allowed them to acclimate to my room, myself, each other, as well as allowing them to actively engage and explore while I set up my expectations, rules, and boundaries. Using these song categories and strategies has truly bonded us together over these months!

[Jessica Gelineau]

Hi Emily, it is great to hear that you are utilizing some of these strategies with older children! While I have some experience with younger children in this age range, I also have more experience with children who are a bit older. The instrument scavenger hunt sounds so fun! Thanks for the idea!

[Jessica Gelineau]

One experience I distinctly remember while working with this age level, is a co- treatment with a physical therapist for a three month old. I had been brought in since the young child would become distressed when the PT did the stretches with him. I provided very soft, piano guitar music. I kept an ostinato rhythmic pattern on guitar, and added light vocal accompaniment when appropriate. I matched the melodic contour of the music to the stretches the PT performed, changing musical dynamics depending on if the stretches were static vs. dynamic.

[Amy Brownell]

Just curious – how did he respond when the music was present as opposed to when it was not?

[Hannah Floyd]

I currently do not have any experience really working with children in this age level. For the children I do see, like Emily I use greeting/hello songs, goodbye songs, and movement songs. One thing I like to do is an I Spy song, where the kids have to go find something in the room that matches (I Spy with my little eye something that is red). And I always do a relaxation with gentle music before the goodbye song.

[Anne Reed]

When I worked in the children’s hospitals we made elephant trunks out of tubing and did a song about elephants coming out to play. Since many of the children were in wheel chairs it was fun to roll them around with their trunks a blowing. Also, I had a keyboard with all these pre-set melodies and rhythms that I put songs to so that when the littles one hit the buttons I could sing along. This was a big hit! I, like Emily did some co-treating with other therapists. I would be in the PT room and the therapists would have me come over and do music as they worked on motor skills. As so as the music started the kids were wiggling, marching, clapping, and doing the exercises the PT wanted (for the most part).

[Maggie Murphy]

I have been running an early childhood music group with young children ages (8, 9, and 12 months) over the past 6 weeks. Based on the responses I have seen from these children, I would say that they fall somewhere between the trust stage and independence stage.

Like many groups run by Music Therapists, I began incorporating a Hello/Gathering Song and Goodbye Song right off the bat. Prior to getting into the “meat and potatoes” of this course, I had been using music experiences from John Feierabend’s “First Steps in Music for Infants and Toddlers” In this series, music experiences are categorized into the following: Bounces, Wiggles, Tickles, Tapping/Clapping, Simple Songs, Beat Motions with Recordings, and Lullabies. I had been using songs from each of these different categories.

After a week or two of running the class, I noticed that the children did not seem too interested in the songs from the Wiggles, Tickles, Tapping/Clapping categories. The children wanted to pull themselves up into a stand, using their caregiver’s support. They also wanted to explore the room.

I have made gradual shifts to how I run my group since starting this course. I kept my Gathering/Hello and Goodbye songs, as well as, incorporated new bonding songs (including “Row Your Boat”). I have also started incorporating instrument songs (“All Night, All Day” and “In My Little Hand”) which the young children seem to love.

Over the course of the class, I have noticed that the children have gotten more comfortable leaving their caregiver’s laps. They have an increased awareness and interest in each other and myself (esp. the guitar on my lap).

I’m interested in incorporating music experiences from the “Songs About Me” and “Movement Songs” with them, as well as, learning about Sprouting Melodies 2, because that might be a better fit for these three!

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