Autumn Themed Session Ideas | #83

Happy fall, ya’ll! The change of seasons is an opportunity for seasonally themed interventions so we’re honing in on Halloween and Harvest season. We always need to exercise our best clinical judgment on when it’s appropriate to use themed sessions. Some reasons why you might want to include themes are for reminiscence, orientation, increased engagement with novelty experiences, bringing changes to your session planning, and opportunities for introducing new and familiar music that you can’t use all year round.

Resources:

Early Childhood:

Scarves/Singing- 

If I Were a Ghost: https://youtu.be/SZLXLjKHb1M

Stephanie Leavell's Halloween adaptation for her scarf song- Blowing in the Wind: https://www.facebook.com/MusicForKiddos/videos/blowing-in-the-wind-a-variation-for-halloween/5518529558231767/ 

Movement - 

Ring Around the Pumpkin- by Bearpaw creek! 

https://musicandmovementproducts.com/pumpkin-musical-movement-songs-and-learning-games-activities/ 

Fabric Leaves for sensory transition- 

Subscribe to MT&B Emails to get "The Leaves are Falling" and more freebies! https://www.musictherapyandbeyond.com/subscribe  

Elementary:

Boomwhackers/Xylophones to Spooky Scary Skeletons 

"Spooky Scary Skeletons" Boomwhacker Play Along:  https://youtu.be/0lJsghA8WqE  

"It's Corn" Boomwhacker Play along: https://youtu.be/VY_Phdn7sfU

Teens:

Music Assisted Games- 

Halloween Music BINGO Card: https://myfreebingocards.com/bingo-card-generator/edit/du289  

Songs for Analysis and Group Discussion- 

"Heathen's" | 21 Pilots : https://youtu.be/dOOjioUXtf0

"Look What You Made Me Do" | Taylor Swift: https://youtu.be/3K0RzZGpyds

"Monster Mash"Digital instruments/sound effects with AAC devices 

Older Adults:

BINGO- Halloween Music BINGO Card: https://myfreebingocards.com/bingo-card-generator/edit/du289  

Guess that Rhythm/Tune - Playing a rhythm or melody instrumental of a popular Fall themed song, participants can guess the name of the song→ then play/sing together! Alternative: use visuals or props for lyric fill in and to support guessing. 

Harvest Themed Rhythms for Accompaniment- For example, Pum-pkin, Scare-Crow, Ghost, Hall-o-ween, rain-y wea-ther.

Rewrite "Rockin' Robin" (https://youtu.be/uLF3YZIjucs) to be "Rockin' Scarecrow" 

Thank you for listening. 

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Fall Inspiration for Wellness | #84

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Music Therapy with Individuals with Down Syndrome | #82