What better way to get to know a new music therapist than by knowing the tools they find work best with young children. In a series of postings I’m going to share some of my “go to” tools.

Scarves

I know. What crazy person starts a music blog without talking about songs or instruments? I guess that would be me. I own scarves in all kinds of colors and sizes. Tiny 12 inch squares, medium 24 inch squares, and giant 36 inch squares. Each size suits its own purpose within my sessions and all can be used with young children.

Tiny scarves are great for small movements. They’re wonderful for working on using just their fingertips to glide them through the air to some floating music and are just the right size and weight to place over our lips and working on blowing. Medium size scarves are super for larger motor movements. I love to use them in the fall to throw in the air while singing about falling leaves. They also make excellent capes for hero songs and soar through the air when singing about flying. Large scarves can be the most silly. They become tablecloths when we go on a teddy bear picnic. My little friends become different colored ghosts at Halloween and the can allow us to slide our friends along the floor when we need some vestibular stimulation.

Of course with any of these we can work on cognitive skills. Very young children love using scarves for peek-a-boo. They can work on object permanence while not losing sight of the person completely. This is especially beneficial for babies and toddlers with special needs. Depending on the age and skills of the children, they can be used to work on size differentiation. Younger children can work on big and small where older children can work on three or more sizes. They can work on movements while reinforcing simple opposites (up/down, fast/slow, right/left, etc.). Color matching or identification can also be fun with scarves.

Language skills can be supported with scarves. Very young children can make choices between two scarves while older children can tell us exactly which one they want. Children can also help narrate what their scarves are doing through either telling us what is occurring while they are moving and dancing to the music or by spontaneous singing about the amazing things they and their scarves can do.

Scarves can help with socialization. I love starting with large scarves moving to a recording of Aquarium from Carnival of the Animals, telling the children that the scarves are their bubbles. They need to move the bubbles through the water without running into another person’s bubble or else their bubble would pop. As they show the impulse control and personal space recognition with large scarves, I move to smaller scarves and so on until they learn where their space stops and another’s begins.

The motor possibilities with scarves are seemingly endless. Fine motor skills such as grasp patterns (i.e. fisted grasp patters where children hold closer to their pinkies and developing toward their thumbs, pinching, etc.) are more accessible for some children with scarves. For those who have difficulty holding on, scarves are easy to tie onto a ponytail older, a favorite toy, or a child’s wrist so they can participate as well. Gross motor-well, let your imagine run free! Running, jumping, leaping, skipping, galloping, tip-toeing, slithering, walking, whatever you and your children can think of goes!

The possibilities are infinite when we pair scarves with music and young children. Finding the right music and allowing children to let their imagination go free can bring about some of the most creative and amazing of music experiences.