If you have read this blog before you will know that I decided to use this time to teach my children some music. One of the things I wanted to teach my 5year old was how to start reading musical notation. You can read more about starting to teach him about this here.
In a nutshell, I wrote some rhythm patterns out for him and taught him the rhythm for them using the names of snacks he and his sister had been asking for!
So today, after we played the ukelele for a bit, I got my notation craft sticks out and revised the rhythm patterns with him. The snacks did their job and he managed to remember them all!
Then I put a different pattern down for him to copy, and we took it in turns to make different rhythm patterns for each other. For each pattern I asked him to say it with the snack names and then clap the rhythm pattern.
He then had the idea to turn all the craft sticks upside down and pick out some at random and make a rhythm pattern using those craft sticks, and again we too turns doing this. He definitely did much better speaking the rhythms than clapping them, but with only a little more practice I think he will soon get the idea.
It was a nice way to do this and to pass some time this afternoon. Let’s face it, most of us at home with the children have an awful lot of that at the moment!
getkidsintomusic.com 