“Mad Libs a-la Music” : Good for All ages – kids through adults

– Age: 6-12 =/-

-Goal Area: language arts

-Good activity for parents and teachers of special needs kids .

-Objective: Kids will provide nouns, verbs, colors, numbers, and more upon therapist request.

-Materials: Familiar song with key words removed. (Write down the part of speech you will request for each deleted word. This really helps.)

-Method: Ask the students a variety to “wh” questions and for parts of speech, incorporate into song.

-Adaptations: We all know how we used to play this game.  Tell the kids to keep it “clean!”

-Submitted by:  Margie@musictherapytunes.com

Lyrics and Chords: Of your choice. Here’s a mundane example. Also works well with holiday songs, pop songs, any group appropriate choice.

                                Try it with a song that the kids know already.

 

Oh, Susanna!

I came from ___________         with a ____________on my knee.

                    (a restaurant)                       (fav. instrument)

I’m going to _____________.                   My ____________for to see.

                     (a place you want to be)             (fav. person)

Oh, ______________ won’t you ____________ for me.

         (name)                                  (verb)

I’m going to _____________ with a ______________on my knee.

                    (place)                               (instrument)

 

 

 

My version:

 

 

Oh, Makayla!

I came from _McDonalds__________         with a _clarinet__on my knee.

                    (a restaurant)                       (fav. instrument)

I’m going to _the Caribbean____________.                   My __Sweetheart__________for to see.

                     (a place you want to be)             (fav. person)

Oh, _Makayla Nicole_____________ won’t you __sing__________ for me.

         (name)                                  (verb)

I’m going to the Caribbean_____________ with a __Clarinet____________on my knee.

                    (place)                               (instrument)

 

 

 

Reflection

So many interesting videos and activities for music therapy can be found on the Internet; so many in fact, that I found this assignment to be particularly difficult. I played a musical instrument beginning in the sixth grade and was quite proficient at it. I also sang in both the school and church choir and have always had a high level of appreciation for the art form.

I had planned to do something much more involved over the weekend and had spent hours on the Internet searching for just the right thing. However, late Friday night my daughter-in-law went into labor and I spent the majority of the weekend at the hospital with my son, his wife and their first child, who also happens to be my first grandchild.

There was one really cute activity that utilized the Laurie Berkner Band song Walk Along the River. But at this late hour there was not enough time to gather a couple of instruments and some other participants to really make this fun. You can see the video at https://youtu.be/1aDgyyMD5CA. They have numerous other songs that would be suitable for music therapy with children and could possibly be adapted for dementia patients as there is a lot of movement, clapping , etc.

So for simplicity and in order to make the deadline for turning in the assignment, I selected creating “Mad Libs a-la Music” : Good for All ages – kids through adults as my activity. In this activity a familiar song is chosen and certain words are to be replaced with something completely different than the original song. Now this is a very fun activity and works with all ages. I would imagine that giving the same fill in the blank song and get a different song for every person who played the game. There would certainly be lots of laughter and this would make a great ice-breaker for working with groups. 

 

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