Elementary Music Beat and Rhythm Activities

Here are some fun elementary music class STEADY BEAT and RHYTHM activities you can use in your classroom any time of year.

Fun means that they are interactive, engaging, challenging in visual, aural, and kinesthetic ways. That also means that most of your students will enjoy and have fun doing them.

WHY TEACHING THE STEADY BEAT IS IMPORTANT

Why is teaching the beat so important? I feel that it’s because the BEAT is the foundational skill that everyone needs to be able to feel and understand in order to learn rhythm and and ultimately make music.

That’s why it’s important to establish elementary music class STEADY BEAT and RHYTHM activities early on in the school year.

I’ve found through the years that it’s not the easiest thing for everyone- and it’s something that needs to be retaught and practiced often.

It seems like every school year I have to begin all over again! But that’s okay, because in some ways, having everyone focus on one skill the first couple of weeks- makes it easier to get to know the students and make sure classroom management is set up properly. Then we can dive deeper into grade level skill areas.

At the beginning of the school year I like to get everyone feeling the STEADY BEAT through a variety of activities.

There will be new students and returning students who need to start at the beginning before jumping into grade level activities.

Everyone can have FUN playing the STEADY BEAT!

Try this activity to kick start your school year!

 Hello Body Percussion Song

HELLO BODY PERCUSSION ACTIVITY LINK

or this one!

MOVE TO THE STEADY BEAT

Check out this blog post with more ideas: INTERACTIVE ELEMENTARY MUSIC STEADY BEAT ACTIVITIES

MOVE TO THE STEADY BEAT ACTIVITY LINK

Here are some STEADY BEAT and RHYTHM ACTIVITIES that your students can enjoy.

KINDERGARTEN STEADY BEAT ACTIVITIES

Here are some kindergarten steady beat activities you can use any time of year!

SPACE ALIEN BODY PERCUSSION

SPACE ALIEN BODY PERCUSSION ACTIVITY LINK (TEACHERS PAY TEACHERS STORE)

FIRST GRADE STEADY BEAT ACTIVITIES

SPACE ALIEN RHYTHM L1 ACTIVITY LINK (TEACHERS PAY TEACHERS STORE)

Get your students on board the beat and rhythm spaceship and learn their quarter and eighth note rhythms. An out of this world set of interactive materials that will have your students saying and playing, creating and learning rhythms. Play along video as well as interactive google slides, flashcards, posters, games and activities for a complete unit of learning. Practice steady beat as well as joined eighth note rhythms and mixed patterns. Perfect to introduce joined eighth notes to your younger students.

SECOND & THIRD GRADE STEADY BEAT ACTIVITIES

I created this resource to use at the beginning of the school year. The activities can be used across grade levels. There are teaching videos, flash cards, activities and presentations and worksheets to help you migrate the first weeks of school with all grade levels. Or, this would be great to use for an entire quarter with 2nd and 3rd graders.

WOW your elementary music class students with these interactive and engaging materials to practice, perform and create body percussion patterns. Music Class will never be the same after students use the google drag & drop create a pattern activity, play along with the video, create and practice body percussion patterns using the flashcards, color their own patterns… and MORE!

Elementary music body percussion activities with lessons, worksheets, flashcards, music, video and games.

Get Movin’ to the Beat

I wrote this song to be used as a starting point for beginning body percussion activities. It’s easy enough for most 1st through 2nd graders to do the first time.

You’ll want to review the actions and then have students follow along!

Get the resource with activities and flash cards!

Body Percussion Activity “Get Movin’ to the Beat” with Steady Beat Action Patterns is a great steady beat movement activity for Kindergarten through Third Graders. The engaging video will have your elementary music students moving to the beat in 8 different body action patterns. And, they’ll be able to create their own patterns using the flashcards. This interactive activity is perfect for a warm up, Sub Tub and helping your elementary music students to feel and move to the steady beat.

Get everyone moving to the beat!

FOURTH GRADE, FIFTH GRADE & SIXTH GRADE STEADY BEAT ACTIVITIES

Looking for some upper elementary steady beat and rhythm activities? I’ve created warmups that you can use with your 4th, 5th and 6th grade students. These are short rhythm activities that introduce sounds in a beat and notation. I’ve found it very helpful for my students who are coming into music class without a lot of prior knowledge. The resources have flashcards, google slides activities and games you can play.

Move to the Rhythms

Patriotic Rhythms

Camping Rhythm Activity

This blog post has more ideas too!  Elementary Music Beat and Rhythm Movement Activities

PAIR MOVEMENT ACTIVITIES WITH BEAT AND RHYTHM ACTIVITIES

I’ve found that my students need to change activities about every 7-9 minutes. So pairing a movement activity with a rhythm activity works really well.

I begin with a play along video.

Then students use flashcards in small groups either playing a game or creating patterns.

Next, we’ll come back together either to do the video again, or to play rhythms as a class.

Then, I use a movement activity for 5 minutes.

Finally, I review the rhythms and do an assessment using one of the games/activities in the resources.

I’ve found the break give little brain processing time before an assessment.

MORE STEADY BEAT AND RHYTHM ACTIVITY IDEAS

Here are some blog post’s with tons of steady beat and rhythm activity lessons and activities you can use in your elementary music classroom.

STEADY BEAT AND RHYTHM ACTIVITIES FOR DECEMBER

WINTER STEADY BEAT AND RHYTHM ACTIVITIES

ELEMENTARY MUSIC CLASS SPRING RHYTHM ACTIVITIES

INTERACTIVE ELEMENTARY MUSIC STEADY BEAT ACTIVITIES

TEACHER TIPS FOR STEADY BEAT ACTIVITIES

Finally, you’ll want to try this teacher tip! It will save you time and will help you be very prepared for all of your classes.

Create a YouTube playlist of your “go to” activities.

Write the Rhythm and Steady Beat activities into your lesson plans with links to videos. Be sure to organized your activities by grade level groups.

Create and insert these activities into a google slides document so that you have immediate access without the ads!

You may want your presentation to have a Kindergarten/First Grade, Second/Third Grade, and a 4th, 5th, 6th Grade section instead of making sections for each grade. That way you’re only looking through 3 sections. Or, you can make a slide presentation for each grade and put it in your lesson planning folder. It depends on how you are structuring your classes.

I’m hoping that you can use these elementary music class STEADY BEAT and RHYTHM activities in your classroom any time of year.

GET THE FREE GOOGLE SLIDES TEMPLATE HERE

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