Fun ways to… teach kids rhythm
Rhythm is a great area to work on with little kids, and these are all games I’ve played with my younger students, even those who can’t yet read or write. For added enjoyment you can use percussion instruments too!
The Ball and Bowl game
Aim: to encourage kids to clap basic rhythms in time.
Tools: 4 bowls and around 8 small balls.
Place 4 bowls between you and your student. Each bowl is one beat. Take turns placing 0, 1 or 2 balls in each bowl. Now clap the rhythm that creates! As the student gets more confident, you can go over the 4 beats time and again, changing the number of balls in the bowls each time.
2. Musical Snakes and Ladders
Aim: to teach note values of crotchet (quarter note), minim (half note), dotted minim (dotted half note) and semibreve (whole note).
Tools: a blank die to draw on, and a Snakes and Ladders game (or any simple board game that uses a standard die).
This game can be played using any simple board game involving a die, but I like to use Snakes and Ladders. Buy (or make) a blank die, and on its faces draw two minims, a crotchet, a dotted minim, a semibreve and a crotchet rest sign.
Before starting the game, write a “key” with the student to show that you move one place for a crotchet, two for a minim etc, and that you miss a turn if you roll a rest sign. Now go ahead a play the game - the student will have fun and not even notice they are learning note lengths at the same time!
3. picture rhythms
Aim: to recognise, clap and create rhythms using crotchets (quarter notes), quavers (eighth notes) and semi-quavers (sixteenth notes).
Tools: a computer and printer to find and print relevant pictures.
Using a topic that the child enjoys, find pictures representing words that fit into 4 semiquavers, 2 quavers and a crotchet. For example, if the child likes dinosaurs, the pictures might be “stegosaurus”, “T-Rex” and “STOMP!”. If the child likes fairytales, you might choose “Cinderella”, “castle” and “wand”. You should also have cards showing 4 semiquavers, 2 quavers and a crotchet. The student can (a) match the pictures to the notes, then (b) make up their own rhythms using the pictures.
