The Turkey Trot

With Thanksgiving quickly approaching, my music therapy sessions have been full of songs about being thankful, Pilgrims, Indians, lots of foods we like to eat on Thanksgiving, and of course turkeys.

Today I'm sharing a song about a turkey.  It's called, "The Turkey Trot".

This song is one of my favorites for November sessions.  It has been especially helpful with students who need to get up and move and get their wiggles out.  :)

Some of the goals I had in mind when putting this song together were looking at the teacher/therapist, following a one step direction, and imitation with movements. 

The song lyrics are fairly simple and they repeat as the song progresses and the tempo increases.  Before the end of the song, the tempo slows and allows students to calm back down (this is important if you want them to focus on anything else when you are finished with this song! :))

The lyrics and suggested actions are below:

Put your turkey feathers up. (Arms stretch up high)

Put your turkey feathers down.  (Arms down by sides or reach down to touch toes)

Now do the turkey trot, round and round.  (Stomp feet and turn around)

The turkey, he says, "Gobble, Gobble".  (Say "Gobble, Gobble" and/or do the sign for turkey)

The students I work with have really enjoyed moving and grooving to this song.  After I teach the motions and we sing the song a few times, I also enjoy picking a student leader to lead the movements in front of the group.  Sometimes students who don't always look at the teacher for directions will more eagerly watch one of their peers.

What are your favorite turkey songs?

Thanks for stopping by and I hope all of you have a Happy Thanksgiving!