Say It, Clap It, Play It!: Zoo Edition
This is a quick game to play during lessons to show the correlation between speech and rhythm. You could also use it as a fun take-home game to give to your students at the end of a lesson.
To begin, print the cards on cardstock. For best results, use Adobe Acrobat 5 or later and select to choose the paper source by PDF page size to print both portrait and landscaped pages. If you are sending the game home with the student, just print it on regular paper. If you are going to use it in the studio, I would recommend laminating the cards so they will last longer. I also use a round corner punch I purchased on *Amazon to make sure the edges aren’t too sharp for little hands. You can also trim the edges by hand if you don’t have a corner punch. I have added one page of blank cards, so you can make up your own rhythms/animals that may not be included. If you laminate the blank cards, you can write on them with an erasable felt pen and reuse them with different rhythms or drawings.. You can use these cards in several different ways.
Method 1:
1. Have the student choose four animal cards and place them on the top row of the game card. Have them say the word rhythm.
2. Have the student find the correct rhythm cards and place them in the four spaces below the pictures. Clap the rhythm.
3. The student can now choose a note and play the rhythms on his/her instrument.
Method 2:
Place the animal cards in various places around your studio. Clap a rhythm and tell the student to find an animal card that matches that rhythm. There may be several different cards for each rhythm, but it doesn’t matter what the animal is. The younger kids LOVE to search for rhythms, notes, or just about anything!
Group or Buddy Lessons:
For a buddy lesson, have both students form their own animal rhythm chains and clap and say it themselves or have them switch and clap each other’s rhythm.
For small group lessons, you can place the aniimal rhythm cards around your studio. Clap a rhythm from one of the cards. The first student to find the correct rhythm wins that round. Now switch. Hide the rhythm cards, call out an animal name, and have them find the correct rhythm card.
I hope you enjoy using this resource!
Susan Hallstead is a certified KinderFlute™ instructor and the owner of Puget Sound Flute, based in the Seattle/Tacoma area. She fell in love with the flute in the first grade when her teacher’s daughter played for her class, and it has been her passion ever since. Knowing how impactful a first impression can be, she tries to incorporate fun into learning and believes it is a vital component to connecting young children with music. Susan earned her music degree from the University of Washington where she also studied voice and was a regional winner of the San Francisco Opera Competition. In addition to running a large private studio, Susan also teaches masterclasses for area schools and has worked to develop music programs for the YMCA. When she’s not planning classes or performing, you can find her hiking, searching for 5-star waterfalls, and exploring the beautiful Pacific Northwest surrounded by her favorite color: Green! To learn more, visit pugetsoundflute.com
