Music Speech Therapy Plans
Posted by Kristin Weingart on
Music and movement bring so much joy but can also help you as you teach lessons to your children. While music can be incorporated into ANY of our themes, we chose to spend a whole unit talking about music specifically. What are the names of the instruments and more! Read on to find out our favorite recommendations that you can use at home or in the speech room.
Disclosure: Keep in mind that some of the links in this post are affiliate links and if you go through them to make a purchase I will earn a commission. I link these companies (amazon) and their products because of their quality and not because of the commission I receive from your purchases. The decision is yours, and whether or not you decide to buy something is completely up to you.
Ideas Based on Developmental Areas: (Printable Version Here)
- Sensory: Music is very much a sensory experience. While there are many ways to engage our sensory system some ideas include:
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Create an egg shaker with a plastic egg and rice (tape in shut just in case).
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Feel the different instruments and talk about what makes each different
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Set up a music wall with household objects such as a baking tin or pots/pans
- Fine Motor:
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play guitar with a guitar pick (work on grasp and strumming)
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play piano (finger movements + dexterity)
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when playing the recorder (children have to cover the small holes - finger isolation skills that are small and refined movements)
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finger cymbals (pinching movement)
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plucking a violin string
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french horn: coordinate motor movements of the mouth with breath control/support
- Gross Motor: Large Body Movements:
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Play the Drums (bongos) - use your hands to hit the drums. As you do your arms are engaged in bigger movements
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Being a conductor - using the wand to coordinate the music for a pretend performance
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Musical Chairs - play music and students with walk quickly around the chairs and when the music stops they will find a seat and if not “they’re out!"
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Dancing, jumping, and clapping are all great ways to enjoy music and move your body!
- Play: To get you started with play as it relates to a music theme here are some ideas! Feel Free to get creative and expand on these options and adapt them to your classroom or home and what works best for your kids.
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PUT ON A CONCERT: This is a fun one. Take turns playing or pretending to play an instrument.
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SET UP MUSIC CENTERS: each center has a different grouping of instruments ex: percussion, wind, string (etc.).
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PLAY CONDUCTOR: Let your kids direct the orchestra!
- Cognition:
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Work on sequencing and patterning with a piano activity. To do this use a play keyboard. Color code each of the keys. Then on a piece of paper put color stickers on the page in a certain order. Encourage the child to look at the paper and then press the keys in that order. This works on memory, visual processing, sequencing, color recognition and matching and more! It’s a fun activity that your child won’t even realize they’re developing those skills.
- Social/Emotional:
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Music has a way of stirring up emotions in others. Some music can make you feel happy, some music makes you feel sad.
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Play music and talk about how it makes you feel. If your student needs practice labeling emotions start there and then add in the music. You may need to model this for them by playing music and labeling how it makes you feel.
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You can also talk about opinions if you “like” or “don’t like” a song. Expressing our opinions and feelings are both great skills to carryover.
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we’d like to encourage you to talk about your experiences with music and playing instruments with your kids. starting the conversations can be a fun way to make this theme more meaningful. Have a family concert. take turns performing. work on phonemic awareness skills by creating songs together and rhyming.
Book Recommendations: (Printable Version Here)
This is a list of books that pair well with the music Theme. I highly recommend searching some of these titles on Epic! or on Youtube if you're looking for free ways to utilize these stories for your kiddos. Another option is to print the list of recommendations and take them to your local library. There you can check out the books you're interested in.
When you know you want to add some books to your personal or school library, you can use the links below to purchase through Amazon.
- Drum Dream Girl: How One Girl's Courage Changed Music
- Squeak, Rumble, Whomp! Whomp! Whomp!
- Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
- Chicka Chicka
- M is for Melody
- If You Ever Want To Bring A Piano To The Beach Don't
- We are Music
- There Was a Shy Fellow Who Swallowed a Cello
Play Recommendations: (Printable Version Here)
Apps That You Can Download: (Printable Version Here)
- piano app by yokee
- music kids: free music videos
- music box: piano, drum + xylo
- Kid's Musical Instruments
- Toca Band
- PSP Bells: Kid's Instruments
- Mussila: Music School
- ABC Music
Educational Video Links: (Printable Version Here)
Grab your list of words related to the Music theme that are categorized by speech sound above. This is helpful for your mixed speech therapy groups or if you have a child who is working on their articulation skills in speech therapy.
Like Our Thematic Resources?
Be sure to check out the Boom Versions of our Adapted Books! These resources can be played on a phone, iPad, or computer and feature drag and drop icons! Whether you assign them to a student to get data or if you just use them with screen sharing during a session, they are engaging and a favorite amongst our students.
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