Poem Books!

I am a total sucker for second-hand stores. There is just something about digging around through piles and stacks of things that makes my adventure meter say “oooh this is fun!”

A few weeks ago, I stopped at the book section of the Goodwill I was shopping at and a book of poetry popped out at me. Yes! Children’s poetry with poems about nature, seasons, animals, living things, children, home, food, and (my personal favorite) nonsense!

JACKPOT!

Currently, I am overwhelmed with how many songs and intervention ideas could come out of this $.50 book, but I’m pretty sure it’s endless. I love creating interventions and helping others learn how to do it too!

I’ve narrowed it down to working within the season and animals since we are moving in the fall! I wanted to share with you my approach to creating interventions based on poems, but this also applies to lots of pre-composed music as well (I am a sucker for old folk tunes!)

1. Acquire ridiculously cheap poem/songbooks! (Alright I buy some at full price too!)
2. Skim through the book and put a few post-it notes on the material that sticks out or is thematic for the time you are looking for.
3. Select one of those poems or songs to workshop.
   • Read through the poem to see if it has a natural rhythm. If so, being to chant or read it aloud several times. Do the same with a song/sight-read it if possible.
   • Take a highlighter and find a few of your favorite elements of the poem/song, and find where there may be emotion.
   • Imagine what type of visuals/active engagement could accompany this
     • File folder visuals with velcro?
     • Stuffed Animal Props?
     • Instruments that would match any parts?
     • Art that could be incorporated?
     • Movement?
     • Body percussion?
     • Any parts that can be repeated for a chorus (if there isn’t one already)

Let’s look at an example:

I see so many opportunities for an intervention with this poem! Here are my ideas:

• Movement- This could be a great chant paired with body percussion. What first comes to mind is stomping around a space, and using opportunities like “squirrels scurry” to run quickly, and “apples dropping” to make exaggerated actions (hand to ear) throughout.
• Visuals- I hate to say that I keep seeing something with the birds, bees, and trees!! It would be so much fun, and some adults in the room might get a laugh out of it too.
• Creating Art/Songs- Working with emotional expression, I could see clients reading this, and finding ways to express what their own home looks like during the holidays. It could be drawn, written into a song, or told as a story. I’d want to look for blank houses to draw on or houses to create with boxes.
• Song- I could see the last line being a great repetitive line for a chorus.
• Stuffed Animals- I would LOVE to have a few stuffed woodland animal creatures to hide around a room. Hide and seek can be so therapeutic in so many ways.

I’d love to keep going, but I have a feeling that this song will make an appearance in an upcoming newsletter!! Share your ideas with me– I’d love to hear more. I hope this helps you create!