**From FOCUS GAMES, a series of games I’ve developed to teach ‘focus’ to my beginning students (link)**

I wanted to help a young four year old with her attention and awareness. I could see she had a natural inclination toward feeling in general, but her sense of touch and ability to communicate about touch were still rudimentary. We started to play a simple version of the following game.

MATERIALS

At least two small objects which lay flat. I have 5 plastic lady bugs (hence the name). You could use any distinctive, flat object.

PROCEDURE

Ask student to lie down flat on their backs and close their eyes*.
Place a lady bug somewhere on their body and ask, “Where did the lady bug land?”
They should be able to tell you which body part it was– leg, arm, hand, head, elbow, etc.
Repeat on many different body parts.
I typically end with the lady bug on the belly.
While laying down, the breath is pronounced so I instruct the student to FEEL how far the lady bug is traveling up and down in the air.

TAKE NOTE

There is so much information you can gather from a student in just one iteration of the game.
1. General comfort level (eyes closed, belly exposed)
2. Do they FEEL parts of the body? Do they know them intellectually? Some of my 3 year olds don’t know the names for body parts like wrist or elbow or forehead (body parts I would probably refer to in a lesson without second thought)
3. Monitor how still they are able to keep the body. Does the body react (towards or away from) contact? Imagine how they will relate to their violin and bow, let alone yours and their parent’s touch while practicing.
4. See how many breaths they can stay with the lady bug on the belly before squirming. See what their capacity for increasing that number week to week is.

IF UNCOMFORTABLE

Some students will react negatively right away to the game– which is already useful information. If they resist…
– laying down: stay sitting up
– closing eyes: cover with a cloth (which still leaves their hands free)
– a bug: use a different object
– touching in general: rest the object on you, they imagine how you feel OR isolate to a specific body part (like arm) and they can watch you while you do it

GAME EXTENDERS

To take the game to the next levels…
– put in very detailed places (finger nails, hair, toes, ankles, consider sides (left and right, violin and bow)
– rest the lady bug longer in each place
– ask the student to imagine what the lady bug feels
– use two lady bugs at once
– breathe at the end a certain prescribed number of counts
– breathe with lady bug on different body parts (ex. 10 counts on the bow hand)
– imaginary lady bug (“Can you feel an imaginary lady bug on your shoulder? Now fly it to your foot. Now your belly.”)
– place the lady bug on the body while maintaining a bow hold or violin play position posture
– imagine the lady bug on different parts of the body while holding the bow or violin