Make It Monday: File Folder Activities

It is Monday again, and I am watching a British sewing show as I am sitting here. There is a stack of file folders waiting lamination, but I am not really all that interested in laminating at the moment. I could get through the stack pretty quickly, but I think I will wait until this afternoon to get this part of my project finished. Laminating folders is a good task when my brain and body are tired. I can just sit, watch television, and feed folders through the laminating machine.

These folders are not for me. They are not something I will use in my sessions at my current facility. They are for a teacher who has specific goals for these folders. One of the things that I do during my planning/preparation time at work is make these things for others. So, I have a stack of large safety signs that I am making in large and mini versions.

When I am making visuals, I always try to make them in file folder size and both larger than that and smaller than that as well. My thinking behind having visuals in multiple sizes has to do with how I use the materials. When I am working with groups, I like having large visuals that correspond to file folder or mini visuals that each client can manipulate. I can demonstrate what I want clients to accomplish on their own.

When my mother was working as an Occupational Therapist in the school setting, she worked with students on writing. I made her a bunch of mini file folders to use with her clients. She told me that the mini folders contained the same amount of work that her large worksheets had, but her clients would do the mini folders without complaining the way they did when she gave them worksheets.

I like making file folder activities. I feel happiest when I am surrounded by projects that are coming together. I love using my glue tape and my laminating machines. I feel so accomplished when I have a stack of things to present to a teacher.

This is something I would love to do for music therapists out in the world. I wish I could figure out how to get people to take advantage of what I enjoy doing so they could use it for themselves. I just don't connect with the people that I want to reach. It is frustrating for me.

Is there a market out there for file folder activities that are complete and linked to therapeutic music experiences??

Would you, dear reader, be interested in a service that would give you a completed file folder activity along with a list of things that you could do with it? Would you be interested in it more or less if it was completely digital and you had to assemble your own file folder? Let me know in the comments.

So, my brain is going to rotate and revolve around thinking about different possibilities. I had a two hour talk with a music therapy friend on Saturday that has inspired me to focus a bit more on what I can offer to the music therapists out there in the world. It is going to be a season of trying things out...

See you tomorrow. I am going to work and then coming home to laminate.