Dance Like a Chicken
I have always loved holidays. Apparently as a child I wanted to decorate the house for everything, much to the chagrin of my family, who was less motivated to change the house décor for every major or minor holiday. I have always found comfort and joy in annual traditions and being able to mark time throughout the year with special celebrations.
A few years ago, I discovered my favorite calendar, Every Day’s A Fabulous Holiday by Sandra Boynton (this is not a sponsored post 😊 I just really love this calendar). A renowned children’s author and illustrator, she celebrates the unique and less official holidays that have been established throughout the year. Examples include: Talk Like a Pirate Day, Chocolate Chip Day, Buy a Book Day and so many more.
As a music therapist who has been in the field for 12 years, it can be easy to rely on old standards or songs and activities that I know will work well. I am always looking for ways to stay creative and try new things too. Celebrating these more unofficial holidays has been a great way for me to accomplish this goal.
Recently, I celebrated “National Dance Like a Chicken Day” by teaching the Chicken Dance in our school group. We couldn’t do the do-si-do part safely, so instead, we put egg shakers all over the table and we tried to get as many as we could to spin around during that part of the song. Egg shakers are immensely satisfying to spin on a table, as it turns out. We also sang Laurie Berkner’s “I Know a Chicken”, which has become a huge hit with my 3 - 8 year-old patients. If it’s been a few years since you last did the Chicken Dance (as it was for me), I strongly recommend it.
Here are some other upcoming holidays, and suggested ways to celebrate:
June 17: World Tessellation Day Print out a tessellation coloring page or create your own tessellation (there are lots of tutorials and apps to create them digitally)
June 25: Global Beatles Day Have a lively debate over which is the best Beatles Album. Or just listen to the Beatles.
June 26: Canoe Day Make a canoe out of origami. Listen to “Can You Canoe” and imagine playing banjo while riding in a canoe. Or, if you are able to, go boating in an actual canoe.
June 27: Sunglasses Day Read “Pete the Cat and his Magic Sunglasses” and make up a melody for his song about the sunshine.
June 21: World Giraffe Day Listen to an audio clip of giraffes humming.
July 3: Compliment your mirror day We celebrate this every year in my zoom group. Find one thing that you love about yourself and say it out loud!
July 20: Moon Day Look up what phase the moon is in tonight. Find a new song that features the moon. There are SO MANY. A few of my favorites are:
I Don’t Want to Live on the Moon - Sesame Street
Moon Song - Karen O
Hey Pretty Moon - The War and Treaty
July 12: Simplicity Day Interpret as you need that day.
I hope this gives you some idea of ways you can creatively celebrate each day. Wishing you a month and year full of new, unexpected, and happy holidays!
