Drawstring Bag Archives - Bear Paw Creek

New Creative Movement and Music Kit

Madison Stephens — Sun, 07 May 2023 12:51:55 +0000

New Creative Movement and Music Kit with Sprouts and Friends Inc.

We have a new Personal Student Kit available and are excited to tell you all about it! The Creative Movement and Music Kit was designed by Ms. Kristin from Sprouts & Friends, Inc. and put together by us at Bear Paw Creek.

The music kits are a newer addition in the last several years, and we have continued adding to them. They first came together in 2020 with the goal of providing music and movement opportunities while still keeping distance and staying healthy and safe during the pandemic.

Ms. Kristin designed this music kit with the goal of bringing families with children together through music. Keep reading to get all of the details on what is included and learn more about the three different options available.

Options for the Creative Movement and Music Kit

We understand that each child and family is different and what they require varies. That's why we have three of the Sprouts & Friends, Inc. Creative Movement and Music Kits available. Currently, we have the Essential Kit, Small Kit, and Deluxe Kit.

The DELUXE Creative Movement and Music Kit

This kit includes:

2 Egg Shakers
2 Scarves
2 Rhythm Sticks
1 Lollipop Drum
2 Chiquatas
1 Rainbow Ribbon Hoop Streamer
1 Bell Wristlet
2 Bean Bags
2 Castanets
1 Tambourine
1 Drawstring Storage Bag

The SMALL Creative Movement and Music Kit

This kit includes:

2 Scarves
2 Castanet
2 Egg Shaker
1 Lollipop Drum
2 Bean Bags
2 Rhythm Sticks
1 Drawstring Bag

The ESSENTIAL Creative Movement and Music Kit

This kit includes:

1 Egg Shaker
1 Castanet
1 Scarf
1 Pair of Rhythm Sticks
1 Bean Bag
1 Lollipop Drum

Check out Bear Paw Creek's Newest Creative Movement and Music Kit in Partnership with Sprouts & Friends, Inc. Share on X

Sprouts & Friends, Inc.

If you're interested in learning more about Ms. Kristin and Sprouts & Friends, Inc., you can click here to check out their Facebook page or here to check out their Instagram! You can also check out Ms. Kristin's book, Five Little Seals, coming out on May 13th, 2023. This is a fun finger-play book about "Five little seals went out one day. Over the waves and far away. One by one the little seals leave on their own adventure, until finally they return safely to Mama seal."

You can click here to get your copy! We ordered ours and can't wait to try and incorporate it into some fun music and movement activities.

As always, we love getting to partner with other people and business to continue bringing fun movement props, instruments, and more to your lives. We hope you'll take the time to check out Sprouts & Friends, Inc. and maybe you will want to order one of the Creative Movement and Music Kits for your next day of music fun!

Madison Stephens

Madison has been a part of BPC her whole life. As a young child, she and her siblings helped stuff stretchy bands and flip bean bags. Over the last six years she has become even more involved and is now an official BPC employee with the role of seamstress and social media manager. When she’s not working, you’ll find her spending time with family and friends, going on walks with her dog, working with horses, or cooking and baking. Madison feels honored to have the opportunity to work alongside her mom, Janet Stephens, and be involved with the family business.

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Movement Prop & Musical Instrument Organization

Julie Palmieri — Mon, 17 Oct 2016 11:00:13 +0000

Movement Prop & Musical Instrument Organization

As a traveling professional, organizing on the go is a must. Your vehicle serves as your office, lunch room, and closet all at the same time.

In part 2 of this organization series, we explore the intricacies of being a traveling professional who travels from site to site.

You can read part 1 here.

Organizing for Traveling Music Therapists, Educators, Caregivers, and Professionals

Utilize a large tote bag for your various materials and for your larger instruments like hand drums, paddle drums, sound shape drums, tambourines, and all of the accessories (BONUS TIP: I recommend contacting a vendor who sells Thirty-One bags and accessories – they have a nice selection of sturdy bags of all sizes that may hold your materials, instruments, and movement props very well)

Organize your smaller materials, like small rhythm instruments, streamers, and scarves, in totes and bags — doing this makes it super simple to grab what you need right in the middle of a session or class

Use a rolling cart, rolling luggage, or even a wagon (more on this in a bit!)

Find and use a good quality gig bag for your guitar and invest in a Guitten

Use a BoomTote to keep all of your Boomwhackers together instead of letting them roll all over the car trunk

Are you a traveling professional? Organization tips and tricks via @BearPawCreek Share on X

Getting from Point A to Point B:

Transporting all.the.things from place to place can be a tricky job!

Rolling carts are always a plus — two traveling music therapists share their favorite traveling accessories below:

Just Keep Rollin’
Jody Tucker of Access Music Therapy, LLC in Duluth, MN, shares her favorite rolling bag, her visuals, and other cool materials she can keep in her HUGE travel bag…pssst, think ocean drum!

Bumping Up And Down in an EasyGoWagon
Linda of RhythmWORKS Music Therapy, LLC in Chicago, IL, shares her favorite music wagon – and it’s easily foldable and carries a ton of equipment. Check out her post!

Additional things to help you along your way:

Phone and phone charger
Podcasts (for when you are stuck in traffic or have a longer commute between sites)
Mileage log or app
Voice memo app (for when you think of a great idea, you can quickly record it for future use)
Hand sanitizer
A good ice scraper/snow brush or sunshade for your vehicle
Umbrella

Katey of On a Good Note has written an entire Traveling Music Therapist blog series on apps, podcasts, and tips just for traveling music therapists. Check it out!

Take care of your vehicle:

Carve out time to take care of your car. Get regular oil changes and car washes, vacuum all of the seats and trunk, and throw away all the coffee cups.

Also, take some time to organize all of your materials. This is the most important step. As I wrote in Part 1 of this series, having an organized space certainly makes your life as a therapist, educator, or professional much easier.

Be flexible as a traveling professional:

Amy Buser, music therapist and owner of Wholesome Harmonies, LLC, in Miami, FL, shares about the one day she forgot all of her materials for her music therapy sessions. She relied on her music therapy training, as well as her spontaneous creativity to get through the day.

And finally, a little humor to lighten your way:

Do you have a great organizing tip or resource for those professionals who travel frequently? Please share in the comments below.

Julie Palmieri

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Movement Prop & Musical Instrument Organizing for Clinics, Studios, and Classrooms

Julie Palmieri — Thu, 15 Sep 2016 15:03:35 +0000

Organizing for Clinics, Studios, and Classrooms

We know how important organization is for music therapists and music teachers, whether you have a clinic space, a studio, a classroom, or if you travel from site to site in your mobile office on four wheels (aka your vehicle!!).

In part one of this two-part series on organization, we explore ways to organize your clinic, studio, and classroom spaces (read Part 2 here).

Utilizing Wall Space

Whether you have a thriving studio or a busy classroom, having your movement props and musical instruments stored up and off the ground is advantageous. This keeps some of your most important tools away from curious hands.

Using a guitar wall mounts/hangers is a perfect way to keep your guitar safe. This neat guitar wall mount from Wallaxe.com is visually appealing and super cool (and bonus points because their products are made in the USA!).

If you are handy and want to make your own guitar wall mount for your clinic or classroom space, you can easily search for “DIY guitar mount” or “DIY guitar stand.” You’ll find hundreds of results, building plans, and ideas.

Our friends at Music Therapy Connections in Springfield, Illinois have put together a neat and efficient slatwall that easily holds movement props (there’s the Stretchy Band!), books, baskets of instruments, and special materials for their early childhood music classes.

The team at MTC shares their process and the reasoning behind using this simple wall piece that can be purchased right from a local hardware store. It’s a perfect solution for them as it keeps their instruments better protected and cuts down on distractions for their students and clients.

Ideas for organizing your clinic space, studio, and classroom via @BearPawCreek Share on X

Establishing Storage Areas

Having a separate storage space in your clinic or classroom space is a nice perk, as well.

Whether your movement props, musical instruments, and visuals are stored in a closet, an office, or simply a bin or bookcase, having a storage makes your life a little bit easier.

Everything is in its’ own place so that you can easily find it for the next time.

Music therapist Kathy Schumacher from Tuneful Teaching shared exactly how she organizes her music therapy equipment — from instruments to puppets to visuals. She primarily uses drawstring bags, tote bags, and an organized system of labels.

Having an organized space certainly makes your life as a therapist, educator, or professional much easier.

For more organizing ideas, make sure to visit our Pinterest board for organizing!

TIP FOR PROFESSIONALS

Place an instrument (eggshaker, jingle bell, rhythm sticks, small tambourine) in a drawstring bag. Give it a shake and see if your students or clients can guess the instrument.

Great for sound identification and awareness goals.

Julie Palmieri

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Re-useable Fabric Drawstring Gift Bags

Janet Stephens — Sun, 06 Dec 2015 15:54:44 +0000

Re-useable Fabric Drawstring Gift Bags

Probably about ten years ago my sister started making fabric drawstring gift bags for Christmas and birthdays. That is also what she started asking from me to make for her gifts – drawstring bags! About four years ago, I got on board with converting all our wrapping paper over to fabric. It has been wonderful and so much less waste for gift giving. Drawstring bags are so versatile that they make a great gift in themselves.

You can find a four pack of Christmas print drawstring bags on our site for $10.

For the third year we are also sending a Christmas print bag with every order in December.

Wrapping Up 25 Christmas Books

I also saw a fun idea on wrapping up 25 Christmas books to open each day with your children. I need to add a few more to my shelf to equal 25, but we started opening and reading on Dec. 1.

Please tell me your favorite book so I can build my wish list to get to my goal of 25 Christmas books!

Can you wrap a pile of presents like this in 32 minutes with out paper or tape?

Check out the blog post all about it!

Janet Stephens

Janet is the founder, designer, and one of the seamstresses behind Bear Paw Creek's made in the USA line of creative movement props, and bags. She is passionate about her faith, family, and loves the journey of learning and growing this life provides.

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Wrapping Presents in 32 Minutes With Drawstring Bags

Janet Stephens — Sat, 05 Dec 2015 15:39:26 +0000

Wrapping Presents in 32 Minutes With Drawstring Bags

Guest blog post by Kathy Schumacher of Tuneful Teaching

Well, it’s December 24, 2014, and I have managed to put off my gift wrapping until today. This is actually the first time I’ve procrastinated until this late in the season. Was I stressed just thinking about the task? Nope, not at all.

I knew I had this tote of reusable fabric “wrapping paper” waiting for me. Some of the fabric holds special meaning. One is made from Grandma’s apron fabric. Others we’ve been using for so many years that the kids recognize the bags and enjoy the familiarity of it all.

So, here’s my pile of gifts. I started wrapping at 11:15 and was completely finished by 11:47 — that’s exactly 32 minutes!

Our tradition is to have “Santa” bring the presents in the stockings and one present under the tree, usually a family game or puzzle. That’s why you see one present in traditional wrapping paper. I performed this present-wrapping feat on my ironing board this year–I don’t recommend it–for the simple fact that I was hiding in my closet to accomplish the job due to the late date.

The tags are cut out of last years’ Christmas cards and hole punched. I tie one simple knot to close the bag, put a tag through one string and then tie a bow without an additional knot before the bow. This makes unwrapping easier for the kids.
Oh, I also get rid of all packaging before I wrap. Huge time saver and stress reliever come Christmas Day!

The dark blue bag is one that I made large enough to hold a saucer sled many years ago. Occasionally, we have a present that big, but usually I just use it to hold all the presents. When those big presents do come around, it sure is nice not to waste all that paper!

Janet Stephens

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Cristal Classroom Organization with Drawstring Bags

Janet Stephens — Tue, 04 Mar 2014 16:00:12 +0000

Cristal Director of Peninsula Music Together Classroom Organization with Drawstring Bags

From Cristal: "Janet from Bear Paw Creek just made this special Drawstring Bag order for me. Now all my props are organized by color, in these nice pack cloth (durable backpack material). I love the drawstring, as it has a sliding lock. No more eggies rolling out and no more tattered baskets (how do you sterilize baskets anyway ;-)."

She also made me a clear tote bag, that I helped designed. I wanted to have a tote bag, with a clear outside pocket to insert marketing messages. This is perfect for marketing on the go!!! Now I can change my marketing message while shopping for groceries. Now that is multi-tasking! I haven’t made an insert for it, but will post as soon as I do.

Since I have helped design the connect-a-band, many have been asking me what size to get and how many. I have decided to upgrade all my centers to four connect-a-stretchy bands each. Four connected together would equal the XL Stretchy Band Size. That way the teacher can adjust the size for each class.

You can even use it to create four small groups (I have used it for singing rounds and carpooling for “Ridin’ in the Car”. I can’t wait to connect ALL my scrunchie bands and use it for a large community event at the park!!!

BTW I do not receive any financial gain from Janet (the scrunchie and connect-a-stretchy band lady). I just LOVE her products and wanted to share.

Singing every day,

Cristal
Director of Peninsula Music Together

“Music is a world within itself, with a language we all understand”~Stevie Wonder

Janet Stephens

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Drawstring Bag Organizing by Music Therapist Kathy Schumacher MT-BC

Janet Stephens — Tue, 19 Nov 2013 11:54:49 +0000

Drawstring Bag Organizing by Music Therapist Kathy Schumacher MT-BC

Guest blog post by: Kathy Schumacher, MT-BC

When I started my career as a music therapist, I didn’t even know what it meant to be an itinerant. Apart from the official definition, what it really means is that I need a way to keep my stuff organized as I travel from client to client.

Below is a recent picture of the most frequently used storage space in my office. It may look a bit cluttered, but rest assured, it is completely organized. I can also testify to the fact that this organization would not be possible without large quantities of fabric bags — primarily drawstring bags and large tote bags.

Let’s break it down. Because I work part-time and primarily with kids who require a lot of visual aids, I keep a large tote bag packed for each 1:1 client. I have other systems in place for my group sessions.

The tote bags are hanging on sturdy wooden hangers that are padded, made for infant clothing. Once the large tote bags are removed, you can see all the drawstring bags (a little perk of having a talented sister who runs a sewing business).

I often pick out fabric that is theme based to help me remember what is in each bag. With this current closet, I also have labels above each cup hook.

Last year for my birthday, I went through a bunch of my scrap fabric, delivered it to my sister and simply asked her to make some bags. A “bag of bags” is what I got for my birthday and it couldn’t have made me happier–still does, actually. It is so handy to have a stash of bags for personal and household use. I highly recommend it!

Janet Stephens

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