About year ago, Sheryl Welles posted on her blog about a “Twister Hopscotch” game that she modified into a wonderful music game. Basically, all you have to do is use Avery circle stickers of some kind to make the spinner into a music spinner with rhythmic note values.
Here’s a fun movement/rhythm game to play with a group of students which I learned from a Dalcroze Eurhythmics instructor. I call it the “Rhythm Magnet Game.”
The great thing about this game is that it helps students learn to associate the sound/experience of each rhythm value with it’s corresponding notation. In Dalcroze and other methodologies (such as Orff), it’s important to experience the concept first and then put the notation and term to it. This is the “sound before sight” principle.
Background: This game is best intended for young children (preschool to beginner piano students). Older students, however, may also find this game beneficial as an rhythm ear training experience and a lesson in keeping an internal pulse. For this activity to be a success, students must have experience with the idea of quarter notes, half notes, dotted half notes, and/or whole notes (but not necessarily with the terms or written notation for each). This game is perfect activity for teaching little ones to associate each rhythm value to its corresponding notation for the first time.
Students playing this game will soon discover that without checking with the pulse, they cannot determine which note value they are hearing. This game is a great movement game to get students up and moving during a group lesson! Have fun!!
To download the rhythm value posters you’ll need for this game, visit the the Printables > Games page and scroll down to the R’s for “Rhythm Magnet Game.” Enjoy!
I got the idea for this craft from Kara’s Creative Place blog (thanks for the brilliant idea, Kara!). Ribbon Rings (Kara’s example is pictured at right) are a fun prop for movement activities with young students during group lessons, camps, or early childhood music classes. Kids love fluttering the ribbons of these props while they do the motions to various songs. You can buy similar ribbon rings at musicmotion.com…..or you can make your own!
These ribbon rings are made using the (non-sticky) plastic tape that is found at most hardware stores near the Caution tape. I did consider using satin ribbon, however, plastic tape is much, much cheaper. And actually I was pleasantly surprised at the results of using plastic tape. I like it much better. Because it’s so light, it flutters in the air so much better than satin ribbon would. Definitely give it a try before you invest in satin ribbon! Continue reading “DIY: Ribbon Rings for Music & Movement Activities”
One of the reasons I’ve been considering offering early childhood music classes is because I am a firm believer in the strong relationship between music and movement. As an undergrad, I took two semester of Dalcroze Eurhythmics which I found incredibly useful. We learned movements that fit different meters and learned to respond expressively to music through our movements. I think students would have a much easier time developing a good sense of beat and rhythm if they could learn it naturally through movement. Even complex concepts such as 3 against 2 seem more natural when approached through movement rather than a purely theoretical approach.
Besides, movement is fun! =)
Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kwanie/ / CC BY 2.0
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