Summer Fun & Instrument McGyvers

6/21/2017

Written by Ashley

A glimpse into the summer ahead: I'm looking forward to a long weekend in August! A full solar eclipse will be happening August 21st. While I'm in South Carolina for the eclipse (and some time at the beach) I'll be grilling out with friends and family!

In this month's blog, I'd like to share some of my summer session ideas along with some DIY instrument activities, perfect for your session or just for fun!

Summer time means camps in most cases, so what better way to get acquainted with your new clients than to discuss (or sing about) their favorite leisure activities?

This song is called "Just For Fun" from Maria Ramey's book Group Music Activities for Adults with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities I bought just recently. The underlined words can be changed to fit your client! You can also adapt the song for instrument identification and attention to peers - have the clients stop playing while the person called out plays a solo on their instrument!

Oh her name is Ashley, yes it is,
And she likes to make music just for fun,
Oh her name is Ashley and she makes music,
Yes, she makes music just for fun!

Video of "Just For Fun"

Here's a couple of other intervention ideas to promote sharing:

One song I wrote during my internship that I've used is called "The More We Share." Clients pass a single instrument around the circle, when the music stops - the person plays the instrument.

What's mine is yours, what's yours is mine,
The more we share, the better we all feel.
When you share, you show you care,
The more we share, the better we all feel.

Video of "THe More We Share"

Another good activity for sharing and promoting socialization is my version of "Hot Potato." While you hold the beat down on your preferred instrument (in my case, it's a frame drum), every other person in your group has an instrument and for every person that doesn't have an instrument, they have a movement prop (scarves, ribbons, etc.). Clients find a partner while playing instruments or moving, and when you call "One, two, Hot- Po-ta-to!" they switch and jump back in to the groove.

One more truly Summer themed song is one that I piggybacked from a song that was popular in the late 80's song "Hot Hot Hot." Clients name different things they're looking forward to or safety precautions to take in the Summer, because.. "This Summer's Hot! Hot! Hot!".

For the second segment of this post... I'll show you a couple of my own DIY instruments and post a few links to some other instruments you can make - perfect sequencing and direction following activities for time inside and out of the heat!

DIY Shakers & Maracas

These are super fun to make! We'll start with the maracas first.

Materials you'll need:

2 plastic spoons
1 plastic sealable Easter egg
Beads
Tape

First: Take your Easter egg and fill it with a few beads (not too many or they won't have room to move around!). To test the sound, close the egg and give it a shake!
Second: Take your plastic spoons and place them on either side of your egg (hollow side facing in toward the egg).
Next: Tape around the bottom of your spoons and around the middle of your egg and spoons, to secure your egg in place.. And voilà, you have your very own DIY maraca!

supplies & finished instrument:

The last DIY shaker I have is a little more complex, but still super fun to make.

Materials you'll need:

Toilet paper roll
Beads of various sizes
Duck tape
Aluminum foil
Scissors
(For extra decoration: markers, crayons, or "Creatology" adhesive foam stickers or sheets. The sky's the limit!)

Do: Take your toilet paper roll and tape the bottom with duck tape. Make sure to seal the edges so no beads fall out!
Re: Take some aluminum foil and line the inside of your toilet paper roll. This will give it a more sort of metallic shaking sound rather than chunky cardboard.
Mi: Fill your foil lined, toilet paper roll with some beads. Depending on how soft or loud you want the shake to be, add smaller or larger beads. I like to have a good mix of both.
Fa: Tape the other end of the toilet paper roll with the duck tape and seal the edges. Yes, some of your beads will stick to the tape on the inside but after a few shakes, you'll be good.
Sol: Decorate the outside of the toilet paper roll as you see fit, and shake away!!

It looks like this afterwards: