Music Therapy Life Hack #4: Mega Guitar Picks

Music Therapy-2Today’s post is all about these fabulous and giant guitar picks that I picked up a few (maybe 10!) years ago. I originally thought I would use them all the time. They are great for hands that need more than a pincer grasp to manipulate an object across the strings, as well as providing more surface area to hold onto.

But what about those who need even more assistance than that? I quickly found out that though they were larger, they were still hard to hold for many of my clients. I conjured up different velcro adaptations to hold them in place, but was never fully satisfied with the presentation of my overall design. And if I couldn’t think of a way to make manipulating the pick easier, than what else could I do with them?

I sat on the idea for a long time, until this morning when the idea finally arrived! I was actually looking for something to make a crocodile out of for a song about a crocodile taking big bites. I wanted something that could be placed on the hand to look like a crocodile while making the open and shut motion with the fingers and thumbs. The guitar pick was one of the first things I saw when looking through my options and immediately I knew I needed to turn it into a crocodile. So remembering my previous dilemma with the pick I knew I wanted to make a crocodile that would be easy to manipulate that could serve many purposes.

So this is what I did!

Decorate It: First things first… I needed an alligator! So I stuck on some eyes, gave him some teeth and a few nostrils.

Put a Ring On It: Next, I hot glued a large plastic ring onto the back. By wearing the pick on a finger, it stays in place with the hand and removes the need to grasp with the fingers. This particular ring is better suited for a child, but will stay on an adult finger as well.

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Now the entire hand has transformed into the pick and the alligator can play along                   with the song! Super fun and adorable 🙂

Give it a Purpose: Not only can the pick be used for strumming, but it goes along with my hungry crocodile song as a prop, strengthening the muscles in the hands and fingers as children act out a crocodile opening and shutting it’s mouth. I also was able to use it with my group at TheraCare this morning as a prop for the 5 Little Monkeys Song. The kids each had a turn to wear the ring as they removed a monkey from the tree!

So I hope someone out there finds this helpful! I was super excited about finally adapting my pick in a fun, useful and appealing way!  

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