Did you have a chance to try out any of the Moana-themed session ideas I shared in last week’s blog post?
If not, check out the post to see how you can use rainbow bells and the song “How Far I’ll Go” to address attention goals.
As I was brainstorming more ways to use “How Far I’ll Go” therapeutically, I came up with another idea. Since the phrase “how far I’ll go” is repeated throughout the song, why not use that to work on selective attention and auditory perception skills?
Rhythm Instruments – Group Session
- Tell students you are going to sing and play “How Far I’ll Go” from Moana. (Hopefully they’ll be as excited as my students were!) Tell them that every time they hear the phrase “how far I’ll go” they are to switch instruments with the person next to them.
- Sing and play “How Far I’ll Go” emphasizing the phrase “how far I’ll go” and encouraging them to switch.
- Variation: come up with different directions for them to follow when they hear the phrase “how far I’ll go.” For example – when you hear that phrase, shake your instrument up high! Or, when you hear that phrase, shake your instrument on your head!
- Individual session variation: This idea could also work with individual clients. Instruct them to switch to a new instrument when they hear the phrase, or any instructions you can think of, as suggested in Step 3.
If you’re looking for more ways to work on auditory perception skills with your clients, watch this video from my blog. You’ll learn how to use musical instruments to work on auditory discrimination and identification (skills that are critical when children are learning to read, write, speak and spell).