Virtual school? In-person? Hybrid? Homeschool? Pod? School has definitely not been the same since March 2020, at the start of the pandemic. I guess I am not the only one who thought that things would get back to “normal” (what is normal, anyway?) at the in 2021, or at least, at the beginning of this new school year.

On episode 46 of the Music For Kiddos Podcast, I get to talk to my sister-in-law Kerry Leavell, LCPC, MT-BC, who is a huge part of who I am as a music therapist.

We talk about authenticity and what it means to be authentic in the music spaces we share with children and what it means to be authentically yourself while preserving your energy and well-being by not always giving it your all. Because after all, you can’t do everything.

I was inspired to write a series of songs that I could share with everyone who works, parents, and loves children that would support kids in feeling validated and express the array of emotions that they might be experiencing and that surfaced as the result of their changing environment and circumstances.

These songs are compiled in my newest release “I Need A Break: Expressive Songs For Kids.”

On this week’s episode of the Music For Kiddos Podcast, we are sensory seekers as part of this mini-series about sensory processing in music spaces and how we can support children who are sensory seekers as music therapists or music educators.

On this week’s episode of the Music For Kiddos Podcast, we are diving deeper into what it means for children to be sensory avoiders. We also talk about how, as music therapists and as music educators, we can take a sensory based approach and learn how their sensory systems are impacted by music.

Here are some websites, people and resources you should check out when preparing to celebrate Indigenous People’s Month in your preschool and kindergarten music lessons and sessions.

On this blog post and on episode 43 of the Music For Kiddos Podcast, we wanted to give you a glimpse of what happens behind-the-scenes of the Music For Kiddos Symposium.

As a music therapist and music educator, I use props as an aid to reinforce or support movements, concepts, skills, exploration, imagination and our student’s or client’s creativity in the music space with my preschool and kindergarteners. In this post, I’m sharing some of my favorite fall props for early childhood music time.

Narwhals and Waterfalls is a Kindie Rock band that consists of singer-songwriters Paige Bell and Adrien Palmer. Both teachers in Dallas, Texas, they connected in 2018 over their passion to write creative, original songs to help their students and kids everywhere with social and emotional learning.

We don’t have to stand up to engage in meaningful movement. We can dance, move our bodies and have fun while sitting or even lying down. That’s why I’m sharing my sitting movement song with you— Move To The Beat.