Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells … yes, Christmas in the SUMMER themed Music Therapy session stimulated the senior champions during an energizing, engaging and empowering session! We were also joined with the children of the Family Focus preschool for an Intergenerational Music Therapy program.
The seniors began the session with a deep breathing opening wellness exercise to an instrumental Christmas Carol. Then the children joined us, were randomly paired with seniors to jingle their stick jingle bells together as we sang “Hello Everyone” to the Tune “Jingle Bells.” It was wonderful seeing the smiles, laughter and connections take place between the senior and child!
Then we discussed how we decorated our houses for Christmas … everyone stated “We decorated a Christmas Tree” … and the children decorated each each with a colorful ribbon streamer by circling around each senior to the music “Rocking Around the Christmas Tree”….not sure who had more fun the senior being decorated or the child wrapping them with the streamer.
Lastly, the senior held a stretchy band around the children sat int he middle of the circle while the children laid their ribbon streamers on the stretchy band. This provided a great way to calm the excitement and energy of the group. The children loved reaching hanging their streamers in creative ways! We then sang our special good bye song and the children returned to their classroom. What energy, excitement, and creativity this program has facilitated in building bridges to connect these two generations.
The seniors enjoyed a lyric completion to the song “Jingle Bell Rock” and then sang, moved, and tapped the rhythm on their drums. We closed with a wellness exercise to the instrumental song “Silent Night.”
Reflective comments included: “Christmasy, Festive, Jolly, Joyous, Rejuvenated, exhilarated, wonderful and calming.”
