Hi Toneworks and friends!

This month we have hosted Toneworks Arts camp, in addition to providing music for Camp Wahode, a day camp hosted by the Autism Society of Minnesota. One my favorite interventions this month has been A Hole in the Bottom of the Sea. It is a great sequencing song that is flexible, so we could incorporate song, movement, and drawing into one. It can be individual or group based which is perfect for camp season! A Hole in the Bottom of the sea is a fun way to address working memory goals, choice making, turn taking, fine motor skills, animal identification, and reading skills. I have included two versions below that show the flexibility of this fun intervention.

Intervention #1: A Hole in the Bottom of the Sea

Description: This version is ideal for young readers working on academic skills like animal identification, sequencing, counting, and colors.

Materials:

A Hole in the Bottom of the Sea book.

There is a great Barefoot book by Jessica Law and Jill McDonald you can use for this intervention but you can also easily write your own with a little paper and some staples. (Look for a future post about a fun home-made book intervention!)

Instructions:

1. Sing A Hole in the Bottom of the Sea (Lyrics below and link below), tap your knees while you sing
2. When you sing “a hole” raise your hands above your head in a circle
3. When you sing “the bottom of the sea” make waves by moving your hands outward from your body up and down
4. For each new animal ask your participant(s) to create an action
5. Repeat the actions each time that animal is named
6. Ask follow-up questions based on your goal. Ex. What color is the shark? How many animals are on the page?

** Instead of actions you can also use finger puppets like the ones in the picture and ask your child to pick out each animal from a bag as you sing about it.

Lyrics:

There’s a hole in the bottom of the sea

There’s a hole in the bottom of the sea

There’s a hole, there’s a hole

There’s a hole in the bottom of the sea

There’s a ____________(new animal) in the hole in the bottom of the sea.

There’s a ____________(new animal) in the hole in the bottom of the sea.

There’s a ____________(new animal), there’s a ____________(new animal)

There’s a ____________(new animal) in the hole in the bottom of the sea.

(Add as many animals as you want, or can remember!)

Link: A Hole in the Bottom of the Sea Song

Intervention #2: A Hole in the Bottom of the Sea Mural

Description: This version is ideal for students working on choice making, “I want” statements, following directions and turn taking. You can easily turn this into a homemade book by using individual pages with lyrics written on, then stapling them together at the end.

Materials:

Large sheet of paper (if a big group think wall sized)

Tape

Markers, crayons, or colored pencils

Instructions:

1. Draw or have your participant(s) draw a large “hole” on your paper with blue water on the side.
2. Sing A Hole in the Bottom of the Sea (Lyrics below), tap your knees while you sing
3. When you sing “a hole” raise your hands above your head in a circle
4. When you sing “the bottom of the sea” make waves by moving your hands outward from your body up and down
5. For each new animal ask your participant(s) to create an action
6. After creating their action the participant comes to the board to draw the animal
7. Repeat the actions each time that animal is named