Sensory music pod installed at Children's Village
Mike Mercer with Mountain West Bank volunteered to help install the musical sensory "pod" at Children's Village on Friday. He stands next to an aerophone, which is one of several outdoor instruments.
Photo courtesy of Bekah Johnson
About thirty volunteers from Gizmo-CdA, Mountain West Bank and the Coeur d'Alene Rotary Club helped install the Children's Village musical sensory pod Friday afternoon.
Mountain West Bank employees Toni McCurdy (left) and Jodi Harwood help install a xylophone at the Children's Village musical sensory park Friday. The project was a collaborative effort between the bank, Gizmo-CdA and the Coeur d'Alene Rotary Club.
Volunteers in a circle from far left: Teri Grenne, with Mountain West Bank, Jordan Bader with Coeur d'Alene Gizmo, Lauren Bokman, with Gizmo, Stephanie Todd, with Mountain West and Janine Bokman, with Gizmo collaborate on the installation of a colorful xylophone at Children's Village sensory park, Friday.
Volunteers stand next to the 100 foot trench dug at the Children's Village sensory park Friday. In the foreground are Mountain West Bank volunteers Shawna Davidson and Tyler Lohman. Lohman traveled all the way from Boise to help with the project. A pipe was placed in the trench Friday afternoon and will connect the two ends of a speaker phone. Children on each end will be able to communicate with each other from across the wooded area.
COEUR d’ALENE - The first sensory pod in the Children’s Village sensory park was installed Friday with the help of about 30 volunteers from Gizmo-CDA, Mountain West Bank and the Coeur d’Alene Rotary.
Children’s Village serves kids facing crisis situations and operates several residential homes on its 14-acre property. Children served are often escaping from a traumatic family situation, or situations of abuse, neglect or drug problems.
The park plan has been in the works for several years, said Bekah Johnson, director of community relations for Mountain West Bank.
Johnson helped come up with the idea for a sensory music pod after participating in the Coeur d’Alene Chamber of Commerce Leadership Academy in 2020.
She said that after losing her husband to cancer eight years ago her child was very sensitive and sensory activities were very helpful. The understanding inspired her to help create similar pods across Kootenai County.
“We find in our schools that kids have sensory needs, so Mountain West Bank looks to build sensory pieces for the kids in our community,” Johnson said. “We’ll start with the most vulnerable population, which is right here.”
Sensory pieces are used therapeutically with great success, Johnson said.
“We try to fool kids into thinking this is fun and play, but what’s really happening is that Children’s Village is taking their therapists and bringing their kids out here and this is therapy,” Johnson said. “And it’s magic, absolute magic.”
Johnson approached Gizmo about building some musical instruments. Eventually there will be numerous sensory pods throughout the park.
Volunteers worked in the rain to install xylophones, a speaker phone that transmits sound through a 100-foot pipe to a phone on the other end, an aerophone and a set of lily pad drums.
“They need things like this to get through the trauma,” Children’s Village Development Manager Emily Aizawa said. “Things like this help them to regulate their emotions. To regulate the big feelings they have.”
The Idaho Forest Group is sponsoring a pod also, Aizawa said. It will be a lumber themed experience for the children. They expect that pod to be installed sometime this summer.
“In the future we want the whole area filled with different pods,” Aizawa said. “Whether that’s a water one, or a touch one. All different things. The kids can come out and just experience and get away from those things in their head.”
Mat Lanigan, with Mountain West Bank, happens to be married to Gizmo Executive Director Erin Lanigan, which made the collaboration a special one for them. Mat was the project leader on Friday’s installation project.
Last summer, Gizmo hosted a summer camp and about a dozen of the camp attendees designed and built the instruments, Erin said. Deming Industries of Coeur d’Alene anodized the metal, producing varied bright colors. Lake City Powder Coating treated all of the instrument bases, she said. Gizmo had prepared the cement pads for the instruments and dug the trench for the speaker phone ahead of time, so the rest of the installation could happen in one day.
The Children’s Village residents know that something is being installed but it will be a surprise for them, said Aizawa. The kids are really excited, she said.
“The kids can just be out in nature and play with the music and hear those calming sounds,” Aizawa said. “It will definitely help them. I’m sure it’s going to be a little chaotic at times. It’s not easy to be in a group home so it’s exciting when they get to experience things like this.”
