Oh how I love to sing books!!! I am not sure how many I have in my music therapy collection but you can be sure I will be sharing some of my favorites over the next few weeks.
Sitting on the Farm is a great book by Bob King. I love to use this book in the springtime during my Farm week. This book is a great way to teach animal identification, and can be used as an introduction the food chain.
I love the repeated lines throughout this book. Especially the “Munch, Munch, Munch.”
Over the years I have used this song/book simply as a book that is sung. As I sang through each verse I had my students name the animals on each page. For my students who used adapted switches, I recorded the “Munch Munch Munch” on a big mack and had them push the button at the designated spot in the book. Oh the out break of giggles we received!!
At the completion of the book I asked questions:
Where does this story take place?
What was on the farmers knee?
What did the farmer say when the animal got on his knee?
What did the farmer pick up?
What animal the biggest/smallest?
Was the first picture an animal or an insect?
How many of the pictures are mammals?
Who did the farmer call when the dog got on his knee?
If my students had a hard time recalling the information, I sang the part of the phrase that gave them the answer. “I picked up the….”
To meet the continuing needs of my students, I have created a few adapted books 
and visuals to go along with this book/song. First I made a file folder game where the students had to identify the animal in the song and place it in the number block where it belongs. My goals for those students were animal identification and ordinal positioning as well as following directions and increasing focus and attention.
I later had a few students who needed strategies to label word to picture. So I created a book where the students were given a “word bank” and were asked to find the animal word that went along with the picture in book. Last year I created an interactive computer program using Promethean Planet so the students could independently play the song and label the pictures during computer time.
For those students who needed to work on impulse control I gave them a drum and told them they could ONLY play on… “Munch Munch Much.” For other groups I had them clap on “Munch Munch Munch” if I needed to work on motor imitation.
Last but not least… I have also used puppets for this song. I have passed out the various puppets to my students and when they heard their part… they were asked to come to the front and put the puppet on my knee. For this group I was looking to see if my students could follow 2 step directions, transition from one place to another, take turns, and increase eyecontact with peers.
The ways to use this one song could go on and on!!
I love how one song can work on so many skills!!
On a side note, I like to sing all my songs “live.” However, if you need a recording, Bob McGrath, has a great upbeat recording of the song I would recommend!!
If you use this song or have this book.. how do you use it?
melodic approaches 