I've spent the last twenty-five years working as a music therapist with young kids who contend with language and communication disabilities. I want to share about increasing vocal and verbal behaviors in young kids. I do have to premise this by saying that these are very generalized, non-specific ideas to consider. I'm not a speech therapist, but these activities can be thought of as a starting point.

1. Surround the child with anything and everything that makes noise. Everything makes a sound these days. You may want to order instruments, make them, or buy them at a party store. Pots and pans are good here also, but you may want to invest in cotton balls. Wooden spoons make good sticks. The lesson here is that things make sounds, and so can you.

2. Blow into anything that creates a sound. Check out the party store again for ideas. West music is a great source of sound makers. The lesson here is that your mouth, lungs, and breath work together to make sounds. See how this is a prerequisite to language sounds?

3. Imitate any sneezing, coughing, laughing, hiccuping, burping. These really do get the attention of kids. Even imitate anger and crying sounds- but do so in a respectful manner that tells the child you hear, support and respect their vocal message.

4. Vocalize into anything that you can hold up to your mouth like a paper towel roll. Play with vocal pitch, volume, emotionality, length. Take turns. This is teaching that the child can make his own sounds and those sounds get results. Vocalize into a box- it sure gets loud in there. Party stores sell toy microphones that reverb/echo what you sound into them.

5. Make sound effects of everything you see, hear, play with, ride in. Playing with toy cars – make the sound. Playing farm? All the animals make sounds. Most things do. Lesson here is that sounds can be imitated. More importantly, the sounds people make can be imitated. A huge language precursor.

6. Talk about everything you can. Life is a big lesson after all. Folding laundry? It's a great time to build vocabulary on clothing items. Going to the grocery store? Food is everywhere. Driving anywhere? What do you see. Point here is to expose the child to spoken language.

7. You can insert any sound into a song that already exists. If you want to elicit the sound “bah,” then you can sing the whole melody to Mary Had a Little Lamb on the word “bah.” Ok, lambs say “bah” but that was just a coincidence.

8. Of course sing the old standard nursery rhymes and time-tested kids songs like “Itsy Bitsy Spider, “ and “Twinkle, twinkle little star.” These have been around for so long because they have a real effect on language. The predictable and patterned melodies heighten attention.  Pairing a motion with a song strengthens the connections even more.

9. Leave the last word off a phrase (musical sentence) and wait for the child to fill it in. An example would be “E I E I_______.” Praise all attempts and if need be, model the correct response. This needs to stay fun and not become a lesson- - at least in the child's mind! You may know otherwise!

10. Sing. Sing. Sing. Singing activates more areas of the brain than speaking alone. It heightens, focuses, and motivates attention. And it's its own reward. It's good for them. Turn everything into a song. Giving a bath? “If your happy and you know it wash your toes!” Going to Grandmas? Sing “this is the way we sit in the car, sit in the car, sit in the car...”

Margie's “Sing!” CD is full of original songs specifically written to foster sounds, words, and simple phrases. Oral-motor skills, articulation drills, sound play, and short sentences are all addressed through her music. Good for early intervention, pre-school, and early elementary students.

Margie is a music therapist and special educator with over 24 years experience working with pre-school and school aged children. Check out her excellent albums: 

Move! - Action songs about understanding directions and following through with them. (Receptive language)

Sing! - Action songs with sounds, words, and simple phrases. (Expressive language.)

Mixing it Up - More interactive songs about following directions, vocalizing, singing, moving and playing simple instruments.

It's amazing how quickly the Halloween decorations came down and were replaced with turkeys, pilgrims, and other symbols of Thanksgiving throughout the school where I work.  My students were already asking me to sing the Turkey Dinner Dance with them on November 1st, and of course I happily obliged.

As much fun as it is to sing about turkey dinner with all the trimmings, the theme that I really want to drive home with them this month is thankfulness.  It's important to be thankful for all that we have throughout the entire year, and Thanksgiving is the perfect season to start encouraging my students to do so. 

The song Thankful is meant to be a conversation starter; it poses the question: what are YOU thankful for?  Not only do I share the things and people for which I am thankful, but I invite my students to add to that list.  We've written verse upon verse using their answers, which range from "my little sister" to "kisses from my dog" and more. 

What kinds of sweet and creative answers will your students give in response to this question?  There are plenty of songs about Thanksgiving to get them started!

Listen to Thankful from the album Listen & Learn: Thanksgiving in the audio player, below.

This activity is great for rainy days and kids love it. The best part is that they're learning and they don't even realize it because of all the fun they're having!

Top 10 variations of Move and Freeze game and some benefits on the side.

1. Move to the music and sit when it stops.

2. Dance and freeze in place when the music stops.

3. Dance minimally when the music is soft and grandly when loud. And stop.

4. Dance and put a specific body part on a chair when the music stops.

5. Freeze like an animal or character you are studying or reading about.

6. Freeze and connect to a partner. Same part to same part. (Elbow to elbow.....)

7. Freeze like an object in the room like a chair, or pencil, or flag for instance.

8. Freeze like the something that rhymes with a word, like something that starts with a specific letter, or near to a particular color....

9. Freeze by the function of an object. What? Yes, freeze by the thing you sharpen pencils with. Freeze by the thing come in and go out from..... or the thing we can look out through...

10. Freeze like a preposition. Under something, over something, on the side of your chair, putting your right hand on your right foot.

11. Bonus: Freeze like the leader.

Freeze games have stood the test of time and there is a reason. They are nutrition for our brains. Brains always seek more sophisticated stimulation. Here are some of the frozen benefits.  Freeze games require the recognition of sound verses silence, give and take, interest in the “other,” listening, auditory processing, concentration and attention, bodily control and coordination, imagination, and expectancy. The game is also good for waiting and impulse control, building all types of language, conceptual and pre-academic skills, social skills and more. These skills are all used for higher emotional and academic intelligence. Oh, and they're fun to play.

 Hey, Mister Monkey is featured on Sing! See more of Margie La Bella's albums.

 Happy Harvest Candles

Materials: Baby food jars; white glue; paint brush; yellow, orange and green tissue paper. 

Method: Tear tissue paper into little pieces. Paint the outside of the jar with glue, thinning the glue with water if needed. Stick the tissue paper bits to the jar until it is completely covered. Let it dry overnight. Place a small tea light in the jar and have an adult light the candle.

Pin the Apple on the Tree

You will need a large brown paper tree shape; blindfold; paper apple with the child's name and tape on the back; a basket. 

Tape the tree to a door or a wall. Give the child his or her apple, put on the blindfold, and point the child toward the tree. The child tries to stick the apple on the tree. After all the apples are placed on the tree, count them and ask each child to "pick" an apple and place it in the basket.

Pamela Pigella's Haystack Snacks

Ingredients:

•     12oz. package of butterscotch morsels
•      2 cups of thin chow mein noodles

Adult: Heat morsels in a double boiler or microwave on medium 3 to 4 minutes until melted. Stir well. Add noodles and toss with two forks until evenly coated.

Children: Drop mixture by spoonfuls onto foil or wax paper. Refrigerate until set. Makes about 24 yummy haystacks!

Fun Fingerplays - Autumn Leaves

Autumn leaves are floating down.
(float arms and hands up and down)

They make a carpet on the ground.
(make a spreading motion on the ground)

Then, swish! The wind comes rustling by,
(move arms to side quickly)

And sends them dancing to the sky.
(point upward)

Miss Pennypack's Autumn Puzzler

You will need a yellow, red, and green apple.

Each apple is a different color 

In this puzzler's apple game. 

But when the apples are cut open, 

Each one is just the same! 

People are different colors. Are we the same inside?

See "Hayride" and other seasonal songs on Months of Music.