Jan 27
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Olivia Adams
Building Gross Motor Skills Through Music Lessons
Music lessons are just one of the many ways children can develop their gross motor skills. This blog post will cover what is involved in developing our gross motor skills, some thoughts from an occupational therapist, and some activities that we can use in the music studio to help build these skills.
What is involved in gross motor movement?
Our gross motor skills (GMS) are the movements made with the large muscles in our arms, legs, and torso. These skills develop from birth to adolescence. Some of these skills include standing, walking, sitting in a chair, bending over, waving, twisting, and playing sports. Our gross motor skills are responsible for our balance, coordination, body and spatial awareness, and reaction time.
Some diagnoses that can affect gross motor skills in our students may include autism spectrum disorder, cerebral palsy, global developmental delay, Down Syndrome, dyspraxia, premature birth, and muscular dystrophy to name a few.
How can music lessons help with building gross motor skills?
In music we need gross motor skills to clap, sit upright to play our instrument, hold our instruments (wind, brass, strings, & percussion), breathwork for singing and playing wind instruments, strumming on a guitar, bowing a string instrument, playing the drums, making large leaps on the piano, conducting, keeping rhythm, and so much more! Included in our GMS is also gross motor preparation, such as preparing to lift and play an instrument. We can support our student’s development of GMS by incorporating remedial activities to enhance their gross motor skills and coordination. Here are a few examples.
- Conducting music with sensory scarves:
Conducting helps to work on right-left coordination, crossing the midline, motor planning, and uses our gross motor movement in our arms by activating the biceps, triceps, and rotator cuffs just to name a few. The use of a scarf in conducting not only gives an attractive visual and extension of the student’s arm, but it allows for “hang time” in the air so the student has more time to respond. Before moving to traditional conducting patterns, you can work on simpler motor planning through the following scarf conducting exercises set to your favourite soundtrack. I suggest starting with something with a slow “big beat”. You could try the following:
- Waving the scarf left to right or up and down to the beat of a song
- Tossing the scarf on beat and catching it with the opposite hand
- Tossing the scarf in the air and touching your shoulder with the same hand before catching the scarf.
- Tossing the scarf in the air and touching your knees before catching the scarf
- Tossing the scarf in the air
When introducing more traditional conducting patterns, it is helpful to have a visual tool like the following to aid in your student’s motor planning.

Image source: musicandlanguagecentre.com; Kristine Dizon, Dec 10 2022.
- Body Percussion:
Whether you are a budding percussionist or not, an understanding of rhythm and pulse are essential skills for any musician. Incorporating body percussion can help with motor coordination and body awareness. Additionally, body percussion provides direct kinesthetic feedback to provide additional stimulation for students who may be under-stimulated and provide focused and purposeful movements for students that may be over-stimulated. Check out a few of the following resources for incorporating body percussion into your music lessons:
- Body Breaks from the OT Closet
- Body Percussion from Music with Ms. Morgan
- Pop Song Body Percussion from It’s Music Time
- Partnered Hand Clapping Games from Designs & Lines
- Movement Songs:
Movement songs like body percussion help students to learn body awareness and motor coordination. They also help to provide additional stimulation to bring students into their optimal zone of arousal as well as provide a guided activity for students that may be hyper-aroused. Movement songs provide a great opportunity for “body breaks” in the lesson if a student is losing focus. Some of our favourite activities include:
- Gross Motor Freeze Dance
- Action Songs (such as I Am the Music Man & Old MacDonald Had a Band)
- Body Awareness Songs (such as Head & Shoulders, Knees & Toes and If You’re Happy and You Know It)
- Treasure Hunt to Carmen’s Overture
- Tracing the Music Map
These are just a few of the many ways that we can help our students build their gross motor skills through music and have fun doing it! I would love to hear the ways that you incorporate these ideas into your music studios.
Happy Teaching!
Additional resources:
The OT Toolbox (N.D.). Vestibular Activities. https://www.theottoolbox.com/vestibular-activities/.
Cleveland Clinic (2023). Gross Motor Skills. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/gross-motor-skills.
Fitivities. Ways to use scarves for gross motor skills from an occupational therapist. https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfJZNHHzX7S18iI82hRsHUeY48g9MrYrl&si=n-uTO7OeDg-av2Vl.
Lemire, N. & Adams, O. (2024, Dec 16). Improving Gross Motor Skills [Webinar]. The Lotus Centre Institute for Professional Development. https://www.institute.lotuscentre.net/course/gross-motor-skills.
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Our programs are funded in part by the Azrieli Foundation and the Ottawa Community Foundation

