I can crank it, I can crank it, I can crank it up
I can crank it, I can crank it, I can crank it up
I can crank it, I can crank it, I can crank it up

I can keep it steady
I can keep it steady
I can keep it, I can keep it,
I can keep it steady

I can settle, I can settle, I can settle down
I can settle, I can settle, I can settle down
I can settle, I can settle, I can settle down

Tips for Parents

• Ask your child to show you how to settle down our bodies.  How do we crank up our bodies and keep our bodies steady.
• Sing the song while going around in a circle (think Ring Around the Roses).  The settle down verses are accompanied by slow walking moving our shoulders slowly side to side with the slow music.  Crank it up verses go faster and faster with the music.  Finally, the keep it steady verses are done to marching music and movement.  The key is to remember that this is an experiential song and we want children to experience controlling their arousal and behavior through the help of the music.
• This song, like its cousin songs, Self Control and Breathe is an experiential songs to help children develop self-control. 
• Robot Control - Have your child pretend to be robots with an energy dial on their chest.  They can "crank up" the speed of their body by turning the dial clockwise.  Or they can "settle down" their body by turning the dial counterclockwise.   
• Remote Control Toys - Remote control toys, like robots or cars, are good experiential ways of demonstrating control over speed.  Allow your child to operate the remote, speeding up and slowing down on command.  Remind them that they too have a control mechanism inside their brain to modulate levels of arousal and behavior.  
• Space Shuttle Docking - Children love anything to do with space travel.  Have them pretend that their body is the space shuttle and a chair or other object(s) are the space station with which they have to dock.  Have them circle the object in fast big orbits of the station and then progressively slow to a near orbit and finally to a very slow approach to the station for docking.

The Research Behind This Song
 In early childhood the ability to self-regulate internal states and their behavioral expression is a critical developmental milestone.
"An important task of early childhood is to move from primarily lower brain control where arousal and desire equal behavior, to the coordination and self-regulation of emotion, cognition, and behavior via cortical capacities."  (Denham & Weissberg, 2004).