5 Exercises to Work on Rhythm and Intonation With Children

Do you want to know how to work on rhythm and intonation with children? Here are some exercises to help you with this task.

Music is an excellent stimulus for everyone, but in childhood, it has a special impact on brain development. Therefore, here are some exercises to work on rhythm and intonation with children from a very young age. What’s more, they’ll be the perfect excuse to have a lot of fun together.

To carry them out, you can use children’s music, songs that your children like, or some traditional children’s songs. That’s up to you. After this step, all that you need to do is enjoy! What are you waiting for to take advantage of this beautiful art?

The benefits of working on rhythm and intonation with children

As the emblematic Maria Montessori said, music has a fundamental role in the growth and development of children. And not only on an intellectual level but also on a sensory, affective, and emotional level.

The article Music education in school and the European Higher Education Area, written by Maravillas Díaz Gómez, points out that music is an indispensable resource to achieve an integral and complete development in children.

Next, we’re going to share with you some of the benefits of working on rhythm and intonation with children from the early stages:

• It helps language development.
• Strengthens psychomotor skills.
• Develops auditory and visual memory.
• Improves the knowledge of the body scheme.
• Clears the mind and contributes to the acquisition of new learning.
• Helps children to relate to their peer group.
• Provides relaxation and calmness.
• Contributes to emotional management.
• Improves cognitive capacity.

Exercises to work on rhythm and intonation with children

The exercises that we propose below are very enriching and fun. You can adapt them according to the age of the children, their knowledge and skills. Shall we get started?

1. Simon says

Who’s never played “Simon says”? You can use it to stimulate the development of words, gestures, the learning of different concepts (such as colors). and also to work on rhythm and intonation with the children. How? Well, with a piano, another instrument at hand, or even your own voice.

When you play or sing a note, your children have to repeat it. Then, you have to try another note and ask them to remember and reproduce the sequence. You can add sounds according to the difficulty you can handle and use different durations of sounds.

2. Walk with rhythm

This activity consists of following the rhythm of a song with your steps. Children learn by imitating what their parents do, so repeating what you do won’t be a problem for them. Isn’t it simple? I’m sure you’ll have a lot of fun, changing the rhythms.

3. Mouth sounds

Here, you’ll make different rhythms with the sounds of your own mouth, play with the length of the lyrics, and with the speed in the repetition of the different syllables. Although it’s a very simple exercise, it’ll be a lot of fun for the children.

4. The ladder that goes up and down

To play this game, you just have to draw a ladder on a sheet of paper and raise and lower a doll or your own fingers to the rhythm of a song. When they go up, the intonation must go from the lowest to the highest notes and when they go down, the other way around. How do you work on rhythm in this activity? Well, with changes in the speed of going up and down the stairs.

5. Objects with rhythm

With this exercise, you only have to leave objects within reach of the children so that they can touch them and manipulate them freely to produce a sound. You can start by teaching them the rhythm and they can imitate you later.

About the importance of working on rhythm and intonation with children

The exercises that we’ve proposed in this article to work rhythm and intonation, besides allowing you to have a lot of fun, will offer enormous benefits to your little ones. So, what are you waiting for to start practicing them today? You’re sure to have a very productive and fun time.