The great thing about teaching elementary music is that kids love to have fun. There are so many fun ways to teach music to children. Let their imagination and yours run wild. Here are some of my favorite rhythm music center activities to do in the classroom.
Beat Ball
In this music game, students in groups of 3-5 sit in a small circle on the floor and begin clapping or clapping and patting their laps. They put a laminated note card in the middle of the floor. You can vary which notes they have to choose from by what you have taught them, but I find students catch on pretty well, especially if you put the number of beats on the card itself or up on the board. Then give them a very small ball (5 inch) and treat it like a hot potato. Each person keeps it for the number of beats and then passes it quickly to the next child. They count the number of beats together as the ball goes around the circle, “1-2, 1-2, 1-2…” They have a blast with this beat ball game.
Music Note Parking Lot
Young children love playing with cars. In this music center, children try to park the car in the correct parking spot. They must get the teacher to check it for correctness before they can play freely with the cars. Centers normally last about 5 minutes before they move on, so this free time isn’t excessive.
Play Dough Notes
In this music center activity, students try to create the notes presented on the board or a laminated card. They love showing me each note they make. A special challenge is to create the treble and bass clef as well.
Whacky Rhythm Composition
Draw a grid on the board that is roughly four squares wide and two to three rows down. I definitely will change the amount of rows based on age and attention span of the class. Have students write one note and one whacky movement in each square and then perform. Examples of movements could be to hop on one foot, clap, push ups, or dance, etc.
Bucket Notes Race
You can purchase plastic animals from the dollar store and use a marker to draw notes on each of the animals. Label buckets with the notes and have students race each other to find their notes and put them in. The first person to get all of their animals in the bucket wins. You can use a plastic shovel to make it more interesting to pick up the animals if you want.
Rhythm Fishing Game
In this music center, students take turns fishing for rhythm patterns which are drawn on fish. I use a magnet tied to a string for the pole and put paper clips as hooks out of each hole-punched fish mouth. After they successfully fish the fish out of the imaginary pond on the ground, they can clap the rhythm. The other students in the group can decide if the rhythm was correctly clapped or not.