The Best Way to Teach Rhythm to Kids

Posted on by Mrs. V

Rhythm can be a very overwheldming and seemingly daunting task. There are so many angles and names and beats and time signatures and other notations. How in the world do you break it down? Well, as it turns out, the best way to teach rhythm to kids is already being taught in their classroom. They’ve also been doing it for a while. The answer is patterns!

Patterns in the Classroom

The classroom teacher spends a LOT of time teaching patterns. All different kinds of patterns. AB, ABB, AAB, ABAC, and the list goes on. Usually when we look at types of patterns in that way, musicians tend to think of form. While this is true, we can adapt it to teach rhythm (and later melody) as well. For example, take a circle and a square. Let’s say the circle is a tap and the square is a clap. Let’s make a pattern with them. Spend some time making new patterns and assigning different body percussion to each shape. Have students come up with their own!

Next, let’s assign a number to the shapes. Let’s suggest the number of sounds we would find in a quarter note or a pair of eighth notes. Now we are only going to use clapping so we don’t have to switch different types of sounds.

Following the quantity of sounds, let’s see if we can come up with a picture to represent the sounds. Again, have students invent their own patterns with number of sounds.

Well now we’re doing more work than we have to. Let’s take the shapes away. Have students come up with their own and practice clapping each others rhythms.

It’s actually that easy. Today, my kindergartens learned about eighth notes, quarter notes and quarter rests. The key now is to practice and review. Here are some of my favorite rhythm introduction activities. I’ve linked a view for you to check out. Enjoy!