Fun Ways to Teach Rhythm One of the more challenging things for most parents to teach is rhythm. Throughout Piano for Preschoolers there are tips and exercises to help your child play with a steady rhythm and learn timing. One of the best ways to help your child get the rhythm right is to clap the notes instead of playing them on your piano or keyboard. Once your child starts to understand how long he/she is supposed to hold down each note you can start learning a new song by clapping the rhythm together before your child plays the notes on the piano. To do this simply clap each note as you sing the lyrics of the song holding your hands together for the longer notes. For example, if your child is about to learn to play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star as you sing twinkle twinkle little star how I wonder what you are it would go something like clap clap clap clap clap clap clap hold clap clap clap clap clap clap clap hold. The important part is to keep your clapping steady. By the way, if your child continues studying music there is a tool called a metronome which ticks and tocks in the background as your child practices to help keep a steady rhythm. For now, singing along and clapping are much less intimidating and more fun. To change things up a bit, try slapping your thigh or stomping your foot instead of clapping as you sing the lyrics.

You can also play some fun rhythm games that will not only help your child keep a steady rhythm but also help with many forms of coordination and memory skills. For example, first establish the beat by tapping your foot or slapping your thigh or even nodding your head. Then, clap a short sequence (perhaps clap clap clap hold clap clap clap hold or clap clap hold clap clap clap hold clap) and ask your child to repeat it. Have fun with this and after you’ve demonstrated a few sequences ask your child to make up a new sequence and you repeat it.

Clapping the rhythm of poetry and nursery rhymes as you read them helps your child learn about rhythm. Little Jack Horner sat in the corner or Little Miss Muffet sat on her tuffet would be clap clap clap clap hold and clap clap clap clap hold and so on …

Remember as you’re exposing your child to these different exercises you are not only teaching very important early piano concepts but also helping establish the neural connections that will benefit your child in so many ways in the future. There are some incredible correlations to be found between musical structures, patterns found in the natural world and complex mathematical phenomena. It may all seem like just a lot of fun as you’re singing and clapping along but the long term benefits of this special time together go way beyond the fun.