ideas for songs, stories and activities for preschool SEN group

[sphil]

I'll probably post this in Education too, but wondered if anyone here had any ideas. I do the music for a preschool group for children with a variety of SEN. Most of them are quite young - around 2.5 - and mostly non-verbal. Our theme for the next few weeks is 'The Senses' and I need ideas for songs in particular but also stories and activities. Have already thought of the following:

I Hear Thunder
I am the Music Man (hearing)

and

Five Currant Buns
Six little Sausages (taste)

Also various body songs

but am now stuck. Will probably also do cooking, tasting different fruits, feely pictures

but what else???
All suggestions gratefully received!

There is one where you go
childs name, repeat , where are you(at which point they make a noise or parent/carer helps them) here I am, here i am, how are you?
good way of introducing the children.

I will now be singing in the shower so hopefully will think of more.

"I can sing a rainbow", and maybe you could use coloured cards to hold up for the colours?

heads shoulders knees and toes

also the fingers one, tommy thumb, peter pointer, toby tall, ruby ring, baby small ...

could they make rainbow pictures, piece of paper, with coloured pieces of paper/card that you've cut into arch shapes so that they look like a rainbow when you stick them underneath each other iykwim.

decorating biscuits, rich tea biscuits, make up bowls of icing, then just various sweets/raisins/dried fruits that kids can stick on, although not sure how that would work if some of the kids were glutin free?

textured pictures, stick cotton wool/sandpaper/wallpaper/wool/string/anything else you can think of with different textures.

making shakers - fill one yoghurt pot with dried peas, put another yohurt pot on top and stick wel together with tape. then decorate and voila, very noisy shaky thing.

Will see what else I can think of not sure if any of this helps

the one that 2shoes suggests is one that we used at dd1's sn playgroup to start the day.

to close we sang a song

goodbye everybody goodbye goodby good bye goodbye, see you later everybody, see you later everybody, goodbye goodbye goodbye, then went around the circle saying goodbye to everyone.

what about playdough and something called mercury - slippery like mercury but made of cornflour..... great for slipping through fingers

shaving cream spayed on table with food colouring in it - for them to do fingerpainting

we also had shakers for them - just little plastic bottles with coloured rice in ( just use food colouring and cover the rice iyswim)

a tub of sand with little things buried in it for them to try and dig out.

hope this helps - just trying to remember what we did with dd1. For children from birth to 3.

will try and dig out the mercury recipe for you.

Different smells - you could add to playdough e.g. use almond essence, lemon essence etc.

Playing with ice and feeling hot water bottles for talking about cold and hot sensation.

"I went to visit the farm one day, I saw a pig across the way etc"... for sight and hearing?

"pease porridge"? (maybe more texture than taste )
"Pat-a-cake"
"oats and beans and barley"
"I'm a little teapot" possibly.

I can't think of any songs about smell though.

Our SN playgroup always had a "sensory box" which is really aka a "treasure basket", ie a wicker basket full of things with interesting textures and patterns etc and an activity in individual play is just exploring this. All stuff you can safely chew, obviously. Contains see-through scarves for playing peekaboo cos some of the kids really struggle with the concept if they go straight to a cloth where they can't see the other person at all.

They also had an "old macdonald" song in circle time where there is a sack of farm animals passed round and each child in turns takes an animal out of the sack - some sensory component there in picking an animal by feel and then seeing what it is?

Bubbles are quite visual sensory and work very well with an electric fan to send them all over the room. But visual sensory is usually about lights - do you have blinds and can you get hold of a disco ball or similar? I would say lava lamp but they're dangerously hot which is probably overdoing it in sensory terms Or outdoor Christmas tree lights? Though with all this stuff you have to think: What Happens When They Chew It? so maybe the little light bulbs would be the issue there....

Re: 2shoes intro song - we've always signed that hand-over-hand and I think get good results with doing it that way.

Pasta shapes are good for sensory play - non-toxic, hard to swallow, variety of textures. So a box of pasta, a tray of gloop (?mercury?), a box of rice, a tray of water, possibly 2 if hot/cold - lots of feely sensations there.

some fab ideas here

An activity at one of my dd's groups really impressed me last week. They'd made monster type things with clear plastic bags as a body and coloured card 'faces' secured at the top of the bag. The eyes and mouths were cut out and the kids had to post corresponding objects(made out of card) through the eyes and mouth. There were a few of these 'monsters' in different colours and the posting shapes were coloured the same so in addition to shape sorting / identifying face parts the kids were also matching colours.

It went down v well with the children

These are all brilliant - thanks so much. We already have a hello song (to tune of Frere Jacques) and a goodbye one (The clock says tick tock, it's time to say goodbye). Both songs use names (though three of the children have the same name which makes it a bit confusing.
We only started in October, so are keen to get as many tried and tested ideas as possible. Thanks again everyone (and keep them coming, if there's any more)

Hi, I run music classes for littlies and also work with sn kids. It amazes me that although some of them are unable to speak/focus etc that we have to stick to Key Stage work! Don't know if that's an issue with you.OMG I can't do Hickory Dickory because they're too old but that's their favourite. Anyway, depending on what SN they are, do you use Makaton with them? Use musical instruments too because I have children that don't talk/use language but can play/clap in time which then helps with their everyday life. (ie) singing everything, like "we're going to the toilet, we're going to the toilet, la,la, la, la(conga tune)Physical songs like row row can be be great for eye contact but some SN kids hate being touched/told what to do physicaly. Bubbles are great, scarves maybe, puppets too maybe. Whereabouts are you, maybe I can help? I can't do "my" songs with you but I could (ahem) adapt them and maybe help out. If you're near me, let me know. I'm sort of nearish to Birmingham and would love to help. Maybe give me a ring, obviously e-mail first and we can talk more.

HTH

That's very kind Jollymum - I'm in E Sussex so probably not near enough, but thanks for your suggestions. We're a voluntary playgroup so don't have to stick to National Curriculum, thank goodness. We use Makaton in most of the songs and have musical instruments for the kids to play. We end each session with a bubble machine. Each week we either have a simple interactive story, a sensory activity or a craft activity as well as the music. It'll probably get a bit more structured as time goes on but we're spending time getting to know the children and their parents first. I'm really enjoying it - am a secondary teacher by training, so first time I've done anything like this (apart from with my own son, who's autistic).

where in sussex(sure I have asked you before)

2shoes, I'm in Lewes.

Have you got / heard of the 'body and voice' tape and book which was published by ILEA. Unfortunately it is out of print but is fantastic for SEN. With my group we used to have a hello song, a song with their names in, a body song, a joining in song, a 'theme' song and a goodbye song. I had a different name, body, joining in, theme song everyday but sang the same songs for a whole term (at least - sometimes a whole year).

Some favourite songs

'Bill has got a hat on his head, a hat on his head, a hat on his head, Bill has got a hat on his head, who will he give it to next?' sung to here we go round the mulberry bush and great for children to interact with each other

'Roly poly roly poly round and round X3 now clap your hands together 1,2,3'
'Shaker shaker shaker shaker up and down X3 now clap your hands together 1,2,3'
'Wibble wobble wibble wobble side to side X3 now clap your hands together 1,2,3'
to the tune of little peter rabbit

Another great book is 'bobby shaftoe clap your hands' and of course 'this little puffin'

I can think of a thousand more but can't describe them all!!!

Jollymom:-

where near Brum are you? Am very interested in yr group

Hi I run music classes from home but also do a weekly session at a S/N school. I love it and this is where I learnt my Makaton. I run baby music classes and have packs that I sell to the mums who are interested in signing. I'm in Solihull but all my classes are open to S/N kids too. (obviously depending on accessibility as I work from home and could accomodate a small wheelchair but don't have ramps etc. Would love to hear from you, can give you e-mail address if you like?

Cornflour mixed with a little water is fantastic for sensory play. You'll have to try it to know what I mean but is always used whenever we got to specific sn groups!
Put on a tray and use a spoon/hands to mix it all around!

Hi EJB 1976 let me know if you need more info.xx