Music on a swiss ball is one of the most effective and deeply regulating Musical Play activities for small children in therapy sessions.
Today a little boy and his family discovered the incredible power of music to help him become calm and regulated.
Normally he always moves at running speed, which is exhausting for him and his family.
He bounced a large Swiss ball and said “catch ya, catch ya”. I repeated the words as a chant as I gradually slowed the bouncing pace. I bounced the ball back to him and he hopped up on to the ball and sang me a beautiful little song fragment.
I built his sung phrase into a slow ball rolling song – he relaxed completely. He lay face down on the ball as his parents gently rolled him in time to the song. As he was rolling, his mother used deep pressure strokes on his back in time with the rolling action and the song.
He smiled as he got off the ball and began dancing with the ball. He moved the ball from side to side, watching himself in the mirror. He gently rolled the ball to his Dad, then to his Mum, and waited for each of them to roll it back to him. He then lay on the floor and his Dad rolled the ball from his feet up to his shoulders. He was so relaxed, watching and listening to me singing about the sequence of ball rolling actions.
The ball was rolled over his body several times. He then got up, pointed for his Dad to lie down and carefully rolled the ball up and down, from his father's feet to his shoulders three times.
He put the ball away and then sang to both parents as he held both their hands and danced with them. His parents said they had never seen him become so calm nor how wonderfully he could sing or dance. Because he was completely relaxed he was able to give us an amazing insight about his musicality. The parents could see how music can be used in playful musical ways to calm and regulate him in daily routines.
I was deeply moved by the parent's response as they saw their little boy become transformed through Musical Play.
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