My amazing mom sends me tons of goodies and music all the time, and somehow this gem surfaced at the perfect time! It's a rhythm game that is fun but is not competitive (I have one that is - from dear mom, of course - and I'll share it later) and perfect for the preschooler and beginning student. This basic version has 3 kinds of cards with symbols on them - one that stands for a quarter note, one for a quarter rest and one for 2 eighth notes. The folder has 4 spaces for the 4 beats of a measure, and you put a card in each box and clap out the rhythm. I did a few to give WG the idea, and then she had a ball creating her own rhythms over and over. We covered up the last square and did 3/4 rhythms too, to tie in her new piano song.
The next level will be to move from the symbol cards to cards with the actual notes on them, and play the rhythm on an instrument, but this was the perfect place to start. It reminded me of games we played in music camp as a kid where we would make up rhythms in teams and try to stump the opposite team. I can see this working with multiple kids together or one on one. The best part is the simplicity of it all - just some paper, scissors and a marker! Thanks so much, mom!!
1 comment:
I had a classroom set of those that I used with my 3rd graders. We started with creating rhythms, then creating a 4-bar rhythm, then notating rhythm, then setting it to notes on a staff... and voila! You're a composer! They loved it.
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