When it comes to teaching rhythm, there are a lot of things to consider, especially when you’re teaching beginners in your music class. For instance, are your students keeping a steady beat? Are the note values accurate? Are students able to confidently count those rhythms while maintaining the pulse and tempo? Where do I start?
If you haven’t checked out my December post Solving Rhythm and Timing Issues as a Music Teacher, I highly recommend having a look. You’ll find it especially helpful if you’re struggling to teach rhythm to exceptional learners!
Since you’ve landed on this article, I’m guessing that you’re searching for practical resources for teaching rhythm to your students, and I’m here to deliver! In this week’s post, I’ll be sharing three of my favorite activities designed for teaching rhythm in music class.You’ll discover amazing music lessons for teaching students about time signatures, Boom Learning games, and a Haydn play-along activity that hits every learning modality. Let’s get started!
Table of Contents
1. Understanding Time Signatures & Meter
This is one of my best lessons because it’s so comprehensive and all-encompassing. I know you’ll love using it while teaching rhythm to your young learners! If you’ve been searching for a way to make time signatures “click” for your upper-elementary students, this is it.
What makes this resource different? It’s a two-lesson pack, designed for teaching rhythm, offering two Google Slides lessons on simple and compound meters. The pack also includes two standards-aligned lesson plans and bonus rhythm composition activities that will help your students apply everything they learned.
Here’s what you can expect from each lesson!
Lesson 1: Simple Meter
- Introduction to time signatures
- Listening excerpts of music in various meters
- Examination of notated musical excerpts
- Reading of time signatures in 2/4, 3/4, 4/4, and common time
- Rhythm counting exercises in various simple meters
*National Core Arts Standards:
- MU:Cr1.1
- MU:Pr4.2
- MU:Pr5.1
- MU:Re7.2
*Why You’ll Love Using This Lesson in Music Class:
Sometimes time signatures feel like a curveball for music students, but this lesson makes teaching them easy. Why? You get clear visuals, relevant audio excerpts, tactile rhythm exercises reinforcing counting, and a comprehensive review at the end! Plus, you can elevate the learning at the end by having your students compose their own rhythm in the simple meter of their choice!
Lesson 2: Compound Meter
- Introduction to Compound Meter
- Listening excerpts of music in various meters
- Examination of notated musical excerpts
- Reading Compound Meter in 6/8, 9/8, and 12/8
- Candy-Themed Rhythm Game
- Rhythm counting exercises in various compound meters
- Multiple rhythm counting methods
*National Core Arts Standards:
- MU:Cr1.1
- MU:Pr4.2
- MU:Pr5.1
- MU:Re7.2
*Why You’ll Love Using This Lesson in Music Class:
This lesson makes it so simple because it reviews all the content covered in lesson one, and naturally introduces compound meter in a way that most musicians understand. Through feeling it.
Essentially, compound meter is described as having a rocking, swaying, or bouncing feel. There are great listening exercises included, during which students listen to two different songs to determine which song has the compound meter. After the answer is revealed, they’ll listen to additional excerpts in 6/8, 9/8, and 12/8!
From there, students learn how to read each compound meter and practice through various rhythm games and exercises. Multiple counting systems are introduced to students in this lesson, and another composition activity is included! And….poof! Like magic, teaching simple and compound Meter is now part of your teaching rhythm tool kit!
2. Boom Learning Games for Teaching Rhythm
Without a doubt, I love using Boom Learning to reinforce rhythm fundamentals like note values, time signatures, and durations. If you’re new to Boom Learning, start with my post Boom Cards for Music Class and then check out my favorite games below! ⬇️
Pizza Note Values
This game is super cute and will have your elementary music students feeling like they’re working in a real-life pizzeria! It’s a cross-curricular resource that connects music with math and fractions. Essentially, students compare the size and value of pizza slices to the size and value of note values such as whole notes, half notes, quarter notes, and single eighth notes. Additionally, a walkthrough tutorial is included. After that, it’s off to their first shift, where students must use their music-math skills to fulfill pizza orders!
- Play a Preview of this Game!
- Purchase this Resource on TPT!
- Purchase this Resource on Boom Learning!
Music Money Game
Another fun tool for teaching rhythm is this adorable piggy bank-themed game. It uses basic addition skills to help elementary music students understand note values. Each piggy bank in the game requires a different amount of money to progress through the game. Students then count, drag, and drop their note value currency into the piggy bank and click “submit” to receive instant answer feedback. It’s easy, it’s fun, and it takes no time to prep!
- Play a Preview of this Game!
- Purchase this Resource on TPT!
- Purchase this Resource on Boom Learning!
💡 Want to grab all these Boom Cards in one go? Check out my Elementary Music Boom Cards Bundle to save money and get the growing collection of Boom Learning games I’ve created for teaching an extensive range of elementary music concepts. The best part? All new resources added to the bundle are free for you! Hooray! 🎉
Travel Through Time Signatures
An important part of teaching rhythm is helping students to understand time signatures. Without the context of time signatures, students won’t understand the structure and counting method to perform and count rhythms effectively. In this game, students will determine the time signature of a musical excerpt by adding up the beats in each measure. As students progress through the game, they’ll travel through different times that include scenes from the roaring twenties, fabulous fifties, and even the future!
What’s The Time Signature?
If you’re looking for a way for students to aurally recognize time signatures, this is the game for you! This deck uses excerpts of classical music for students to listen to the meter. All of the included excerpts are in simple meter (2/4, 3/4, and 4/4). If you’re using 1:1 devices, I do recommend having students use headphones or earbuds since it can get a little noisy!
🎉 Want to Stock Your Boom Learning Library with Games for Music Class?
Don’t miss snagging the Elementary Music Boom Cards Bundle—it includes every Boom deck mentioned in this post (and plenty of other useful elementary music games!)
3. Surprise Symphony Rhythm Ta & Ti-Ti Play-Along for Music Class
If your students can clap and count rhythms with quarter notes, eighth notes, half notes, and quarter rests, then they will love this Haydn rhythm play-along lesson, which also reinforces dynamics! Students are also introduced to the fermata and learn a bit about Franz Joseph Haydn as well!
- Background on Symphony No. 94 the “Surprise” Symphony
- Listening Excerpt
- Ta and Ti-Ti Clapping Exercises
- Music Dynamics Review
- Introduction to the Femata
- Play-Along Activity!
*Why You’ll Love Using This Resource in Music Class:
Every now and then, you create something that really reaches everyone, and this is definitely that kind of resource! You’ll find that it covers so many elementary music fundamentals, and yet, it’s pure fun for your students! You’ll be able to engage every learner in the room in active music making while only using a few simple classroom instruments. If you’ve got something for students to tap, you’ve got everything you need for a simple yet effective learning activity!
Make Teaching Rhythm Easier in Your Next Music Class
If teaching rhythm in your music class has felt more frustrating than fun, these ready-to-use lessons, interactive games and activities can help change that. You’ll save time, cover essential rhythm skills like note values and time signatures, and keep your students actively engaged without having to spend hours prepping materials. These resources are practical, standards-aligned, and all of them were created to make your job easier and give your students a solid foundation and understanding.
If you’re looking for a few free tools to support your next lesson, be sure to join the Chamber of Freebies! Once you sign up, the password is sent to you, and you’ll be able to access a growing library of free music education resources for busy music teachers like you!
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