Song Ideas for Pediatric Rehabilitation - Part 3
Here listed are effective songs to play using the egg shakers, chiquitas, and maracas!
“I’m In The Mood” - Raffi
“Shake My Sillies Out” - Raffi
“Shake Shake Boogie Woogie Oogie”
“Five Green and Speckled Frogs”
“I’m In The Mood” - Raffi
I’m in the mood for ___~ Hey, how ‘bout you? (ex: singing, dancing, strumming, smiling, drumming, shaking, reaching, standing, clapping, tapping, kneeling, swinging, etc. you can fill in the blank with whichever is appropriate)
I’m in the mood for ___~ Hey, how ‘bout you
I’m in the mood for ___~ ___ along with you
I’m in the mood for that today
I’m in the mood for that!
This is my go-to song for music therapy, because it is repetitive and flexible to use in various circumstances to target specific goal areas. You can also play this song using other instruments besides the shakers, or without the use of instruments at all. I just happened to play this song most frequently using the shakers which did great at reaching various goals, such as standing, reaching, walking, running, jumping, etc. both in individual and group sessions.
This song is also a great song to fall back on when you’re blanking out on what song to play next. Because you can easily switch lyrics that are tailored to the patient’s needs, it’s a song that can be used purposefully in so many ways. With individualizing group music therapy for example- If you’re working with a group that consists of five kiddos let’s say, and each child has different target goals with various functioning levels and needs, you can simultaneously attend to each child that focuses on his/her goals by acknowledging their specific needs. For example, I’ve worked with a toddler whose main goal was standing throughout the session, while another baby in the same group focused on sitting balance. Another patient who was a lot older than both focused on reaching up using both arms while the last patient in the group focused on kneeling and practiced bending his legs to reach down. In cases like these, it is not easy to target all of their goals at the same time while taking into account each one of his/her needs. This song is perfect to use as you can just go around in a circle and acknowledge each patient’s goals by singing and making eye contact with them. Ex: “I’m in the mood for standing~ Hey how ‘bout you? (child 1) I’m in the mood for sitting~ Hey how ‘bout you? (child 2) And I’m in the mood for reaching, reaching up and down with you! (child 3), etc...” This way, everyone in the group feels included as you’re providing individual attention in a group context.
“Shake My Sillies Out” - Raffi
I’m gonna shake shake shake my sillies out
Shake shake! Shake my sillies out
Shake shake, shake my sillies out
We’re gonna clap clap clap our hands together
Clap clap! Clap our hands together
Clap clap, clap our hands together
We’re gonna strum strum strum the guitar now
Strum strum! Strum the guitar now
Strum strum, strum the guitar now
Wiggle my waggles away...
This song is another one of those songs that you can use to tailor and adjust to the patient’s goals and needs. It can be played using any instrument, but again, I’ve used it most often with the shakers. On the part where I sing “wiggle,” I like to gently tap the patient’s arm and then slide the shaker down the arm to provide sensory stimulation, and then do the same thing on the opposite arm when singing “waggles.” I do this to make things more intimate and interactive using gentle touch. I’ve also used my guitar with this song to focus on reaching goals. For example, I’ll encourage the patient to strum my guitar and wait until they reach out their hands to do so. Then I’ll match my singing speed to their strumming, and then slowly move my guitar up for them to reach up and stay in that position. It’s important that you do your best to sustain the child’s attention using your tone of voice, facial affect, body gestures, etc (ex: I like to flip my guitar over and then knock on the back of my guitar and ask “where did the strings go?” and then flip it back to the front- kids will usually try to search for the strings, tap on the guitar, or smile). Sustaining attention is important especially for young children, because they will get distracted easily and may start getting tired after being pushed to stay in a fixed position for a long time in which their bodies feel challenged to do. It’s the placement of instruments that plays a crucial part in music therapy and does a lot to meet patients’ goals.
Here are a few ways you can place shakers on some of the most common equipment used for physical therapy and rehabilitation:
Possible goals: Walking forward, walking backwards, walking sideways, changing directions as they’re walking on the beam, etc.
If you and the PT are trying to get a toddler to walk forward by placing one foot over the other and the patient seems uninterested or not motivated enough to keep going, you can use egg shakers to quickly engage them by placing an egg on top of the beam towards where the patient is headed. By placing an egg shaker in the middle of the balance beam, you can get them to walk towards it to tap with their foot or gently kick to knock it off the beam. Once they do so, place a different colored egg even further that is closer to the edge of the beam to have the patient to walk towards it again. This can motivate them to reach down and grab it with their hands, then stand back up to continue walking. Make sure to give positive reinforcement once they’ve reached the egg, and continue to sing a shaker song throughout. Only thing to be careful here is the exact placement of the egg shaker- make sure it’s not too close to where their next step is going to be, but rather a few steps ahead, as they could step right on the egg and slip off the beam.
Possible goals: Balancing, coordination, leg extension, overall gross motor movement.
You can place an egg shaker on every stone, every other stone, only one stone, two stones... depending on how big of a step the patient is challenged to take and what their goals are. This will motivate the child to, again, reach down to grab the shaker and keep walking. I’ve had a patient practice standing and balancing with one foot on each stone, and also squatting in that position. So I decided to place an egg shaker in between those two stones to have the child kneel down to squat, reach down to grab the shaker, and then stand back up. To further increase the child’s motivation, once he stood up with the egg, I had him to slide the egg through a boomwhacker that would make a loud “thump!” noise once it reached the bottom of the tube. He giggled every time it did that, and this encouraged him to do it again and repeat the same process of kneeling, squatting, reaching down, and standing up to balance.
Possible goals: Core strength, tummy time, posture, sitting balance.
If the baby or toddler that you’re working with is lying down flat on their stomach on top of the ball to work on core strength (similar to a superman’s pose), you can hold up maracas in front of them to have them extend their arms and reach to grab the shakers. I’ve also used shakers for patients working on sitting balance with the help of a PT (PT= physical therapist, pt= patient) shifting their bodies from side to side. I liked to play songs like “Ridin’ In The Car” from Music Together (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyHoEH-Fyow), where it’s fun and bouncy, and completely appropriate to use for patients who are bouncing up and down. I like to pretend as if the patient is riding on a car as I’m singing that song. Throughout each of the verses, I’ll encourage the child to lean towards a certain direction with the PT supporting the patient from the back, either left to right, or up and down. I’ll also provide distraction by making it fun and energetic for them to stay in a certain position for a longer period of time. “Up Up Up!” from Barefoot Books (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lrd0TiER_J0) is also a great song you can use for the bouncy ball. On the part where you sing “up up up” you can encourage the child to reach up as they’re bouncing to grab the shakers. This is great in that you are matching verbal prompting with the song itself.
“Shake Shake Boogie Woogie Oogie”
We’re gonna shake shake boogie woogie oogie
Shake shake boogie woogie oogie
And shake shake boogie woogie oogie
That’s the way we’re gonna shake our shakers (x2)
...and now we’re gonna shake it way up high!
We’re gonna shake shake way up high (x3)
That’s the way we’re gonna shake our shakers
...and now we’re gonna shake it way down low!
We’re gonna shake shake way down low (x3)
That’s the way we’re gonna shake our shakers
...now let me see you shake it side to side!
We’re gonna shake shake side to side (x3)
That’s the way we’re gonna shake our shakers
I piggybacked off the song called “The Animal Boogie” from Barefoot Books (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25_u1GzruQM) where I switched the lyrics of the chorus to make it into a shaker song. I’ve used it mainly to focus on motor coordination and overall movement for children. I’ve played this song using both the shakers and guitar, and moved the instruments up and down, and side to side as I sung through each verse. For example, I’d lift my guitar up and play in that position throughout the entire verse, and then quickly pause to say, “now it’s time to shake it way down low!” and then have my guitar facing down towards the floor. Then I’d start playing in that position throughout the verse, and then move from left to right with my guitar to show side to side movement.
The wheels on the bus go ‘round and ‘round
The wheels on the bus go ‘round and ‘round
The wipers on the bus go swish swish swish
The wipers on the bus go swish swish swish
The horn on the bus goes beep beep beep
The horn on the bus goes beep beep beep
The babies on the bus go wah wah wah
The babies on the bus go wah wah wah
The people on the bus go up and down
The people on the bus go up and down
The doors on the bus go open and shut
The doors on the bus go open and shut
The mommy/daddy on the bus says I love you
The mommy/daddy on the bus says I love you
For this traditional nursery rhyme, I like to use egg shakers and different hand motions and body movements to engage with the patient. Holding an egg on each hand, I like to rotate both of my arms in a circular motion while singing “round and round” to represent the wheels. As I’m doing this, I’ll lean in towards the child and then back out to increase engagement. For the wipers, I’ll gently shake in a right-left-right motion as I’m singing “swish swish swish.” For the horn, I’ll tap on the child’s arms and legs to create that tactile stimulation. I’ll take my time singing each “beep,” slowly tapping different parts of the body to increase overall tactile awareness. When singing “wah wah wah,” I’ll pretend as if I’m crying by holding up my fists right underneath my eyes and make a dramatic crying face. For people on the bus, I’ll lift my arms up and back down to target gross motor movement. When singing the doors go open and shut, I like to extend my arms out to the side and then close them back in, gently tapping the egg shaker that I’m holding on each hand. For the last verse, I’ll sing either mommy or daddy depending on the situation.This verse wouldn’t be appropriate for every patient, because some may not have good relationships with their parents, some may only feel connected to one parent and not the other, some may have parents who are not around, some may be long distance and some may not have parents who are alive, and the list goes on. So if you’re mentioning anything about mommy or daddy, be careful not to stir up negative emotions within the child. I would suggest singing this verse when the mommy or daddy is physically present during session to create bonding experiences between the parent and child.
“Five Green and Speckled Frogs”
Five green and speckled frogs
Sitting on a speckled log
Eating the most delicious bugs, yum yum!
Where it was nice and cool
Now there are four green speckled frogs, glub glub!
Four green and speckled frogs
Sitting on a speckled log
Eating the most delicious bugs, yum yum!
Where it was nice and cool
Now there are three green speckled frogs, glub glub!
Three green and speckled frogs... (repeat)
Two green and speckled frogs... (repeat)
One green and speckled frog
Sitting on a speckled log
Eating the most delicious bugs, yum yum!
Where it was nice and cool
Now there are no more speckled frogs, glub glub!
This song is one of the most frequent songs I’ve used for my patients even outside of rehabilitation. I like to pair up boomwhackers and egg shakers to make it more fun and interactive for children. Boomwhackers are usually played by banging them against each other or on a hard surface to create various musical tones. But hardly have I ever used boomwhackers that way. How I’ve used boomwhackers in session is I’ll close one side of the boomwhacker and leave the other side open as a way to slide egg shakers through the tube as this creates loud “thump!” sounds. Instead of using it as a percussion instrument, I used the boomwhacker as an interactive toy for children. You could also make it into a musical game by sliding an egg from one side and having the child to catch it on the other side, then switch and take turns sliding and catching. As you can see, there is no traditional way of playing an instrument. It’s about using music as a tool to reach non-musical goals, and using instruments in a non-traditional way to reach specific goals and objectives.
Because this is a counting song, I like to pause after singing “Now there are...” and ask the individual or group “how many?” before moving onto the next verse. Then I’ll have them count with me as I count out loud using my fingers, “1...2...3!” and then continue singing. I’ll pause after “one jumped into the pool...”, hand an egg shaker to the patient, and encourage them to slide it through the boomwhacker. So by the end of the song, all 5 egg shakers should be inside the boomwhacker. It’s also important that you create appropriate boundaries with your patient. I’ve had toddlers where, once they understood the pattern of sliding eggs down the boomwhacker, they would grab an egg immediately after singing each verse and they’ll try to slide it in before it’s their turn to do so. This will happen if you hand them the egg shaker too soon or if they’re in an area where they have complete access to grabbing the shakers (shakers lying around everywhere on the floor, for example). So what I’ve done to avoid this is I’ll hold onto the egg until it is their turn. If they reach over to grab the egg away from my hand, I’ll gently pull away and continue singing or say “not yet!” Then for the next verse I’ll do the same thing by holding another shaker and having them to wait their turn. By creating boundaries, you’re making sure your patient isn’t taking full advantage of you and the instruments. Lastly, don’t be afraid to get silly by matching yourself fully to their level. It’s important to be able to see things from the child’s perspective to engage and connect with them. One thing I like to do is rub my belly when saying “yum yum!” and create funny sounds. This helps to maintain the overall energy throughout the song.
One of the ways I’ve used this song in pediatric rehab was by placing a boomwhacker next to a standing drum for a patient working on balancing and strengthening muscles in his lower extremity. I had the patient to slide eggs through the boomwhacker each time he was able to stand for a duration of time without having to lean against the drum. This increased the patient’s overall motivation to stand longer, balance on both legs, and to independently stand on his own. Overall, music was used as a reward to reach his PT goals.
