The seed of the Laulau Songdrawing Method was planted in 2010 when Minna Lappalainen, a Finnish children’s songwriter and music educator, tried to persuade her 4-year-old son to draw with her. It wasn’t an easy task because her young son faced some challenges with his fine motor skills and working with a pen was not something he was too enthusiastic about. Minna decided to test the power of music, and with the help of a little song something unexpected happened. The boy practically forgot about the pen in his hand and the lines and shapes started to appear on the paper, almost as if by magic.
Inspired by this experience, Lappalainen started to write more songs to support picture-making and to test various working methods in her music playschool groups. She was astonished by the level of concentration and commitment in the groups, as well as the new skills the method introduced among the children. At an early stage, a number of Finnish kindergartens, special education teachers and speech and occupational therapists also tested the method with very positive and even surprising learning results.
Today, thousands of Finnish educators and therapists use the Laulau Songdrawing Method as a regular educational tool to support and bring joy to learning. In addition to singing and drawing, the engaging creative process of songdrawing invites the children to concentrate, communicate and cooperate. It also supports linguistic skills, social and emotional skills, creativity as well as self-efficacy.
The Laulau Learning service concept provides educators with an inspirational and hands-on training programme, and a versatile online curriculum material consisting of high-quality music content, lesson ideas, experience-based information, and support materials. At the moment, the method materials have been published in 4 different languages.
