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One of my favorite and most terrifying musical toys as a child was a Jack in the box that played the tune “Pop Goes the Weasel”. When you cranked it and reached the “POP!” a stuffed weasel would spring out. I’m not sure if the toy still exists, but today’s Monday Music & Movement is a nod to the past with less anxiety inducing surprises. I use this intervention with early childhood music therapy groups to reinforce following directions skills, academic concepts such as slow, fast, high and low, and improve palmar grasp and gross motor skills. Place enough colored dots in a circle for everyone to stand on and hold a parachute handle. Have one person sit in the middle underneath the parachute while everyone else shakes the parachute slowly down low to “cover” the person hiding. Begin singing:

All around the mulberry bush the monkey chased the weasel

The monkey thought it was all in fun,

POP! (quickly lift parachute into the air) goes the weasel.

When the child hiding hears POP! have them try to get back to their dot before the parachute comes back down. This is a great activity for the teachers to transfer to group time outside of music therapy. It is a familiar tune, the students love hiding underneath the parachute, and they love the challenge of getting back to their colored mat before they get “caught”.