Musical Games for Children at Home: Ideas by Age
Musical statues, echo of palms, the conductor and instruments made at home: simple games that develop rhythm and ear.
The best music games to play at home are those that put children to move, listen and answer: musical statues, pallet echo, an orchestra director or guess sounds with closed eyes. No tools or knowing music with your voice, hands and a pair of pills are enough.
Each game develops something concrete: pulse, listening, memory or co-ordination. Here are the instructions, how to adapt them from 2 to 12 and how to manufacture secure home tools.
To sum up
- Ten or fifteen minutes of musical play most of the day are worth more than a long session at the weekend.
- The musical statues and walking to the pulse train listening and the sense of time, the echo of palms and rhythmic memory.
- The youngest learn with their body and from 6 or 7 years old, the games can add rhythmic words, challenges with a methonomer and first melodies.
- A grown up who plays, sings and gets wrong without fear is best model.
- Home tools should be well closed and used with supervision, especially if they have seeds or small pieces.
Before we start: four rules that make it work
- Shortcuts. Between two and five minutes a game with the little ones and change before they get bored.
- You play, too. If the adult only gives instructions, the child loses his or her interest. He or she sings, dances and gets his or her best.
- Repeat what works. The children love to repeat the same game and they get better and better: that's learning.
- Let the child lead. When you understand the game, give him the turn to come up with rules or be the one to play.
A special moment isn't necessary: they work after an ounce, on an afternoon of rain or while they are waiting for food.
Pulse and Movement Games
Musical statues (from age 2)
Put up music or play a drum and they all dance and, as music stops, they freeze. He trains listening and his reaction to silence. To the bigger ones, his difficulties come up: they are frozen at a put that shows a card, or only if his music stops at an acute sound.
Walk to the pulse (from age 3)
Touch a pulse with a drum or with palms and ask them to walk at the same time. If you go slow, they walk as elephants, if you go fast as mice, if you stop them. It's the basis of everything else: feel the pulse with the body before you touch it in an instrument.
The conductor (3)
One leads with arms and the others play or give palms: open arms are strong, hands together are soft, arms are fast. Then they change roles. That's how they understand, without theory, what dynamic and tempo are.
Games listening and listening
What did that sound about? (from age 2 to 3)
With his eyes closed, his child will figure out what an object sounded about: some keys, a spoon against a glass, a broken paper and a door. With his bigger ones, he will hide his sound and ask them to tell them where his face came from.
Up and down (from age 4)
He sings or plays an acute note and the child stretches his arms up, a serious, and his elbows. Then, he goes up or down little by little and his body keeps his move. That's the first way to understand what's acute and what's serious, something that even mislays adults, who usually say "higher" when they mean "stronger."
The hidden song (from age 5)
He paddles with the rhythm of a song that they know without singing the tune and that they figure out what it's about. Then the other way around: they hide a song and you figure out. He trains his music memory and his rhythmic ear.
Rhythma Games with palms and words
The echo (from 3)
Do a short rhythm with four-tiered palms and the child repeats them as well. Start with pairs and then mix quickly and slow. with the bigger, alternates palms, thighs and feet, or echo them: you sing a short sentence and they give them back them.
Food prices (from age 5)
Each word has its own rhythm: "bread" is a blow, "bad," two, "a-re-pa," three, "em-pa-na-da," four. Give a palm by syllage as they say food names, family names or animals and put together rhythmic phrases by combining them. It's the natural anthem of rhythmic reading that they will later see in class.
Question and answer (from age 6)
With two drums or two pots, one "questions" with a short rhythm and the other "answers" with one different from the same length. It's a word-free conversation and the first way to improvise.
The challenge of the metronome (from age 8)
Put the [methonoman online]](/herramientas/metronomo) at a slow tempo and give palms just with the click, till the sound of the palms "cover" that of the metronom.Reg them up little by little. Who holds up more time without advanced?
Home instruments (and how to make them secure)
| Instrumento | Materiales | What does she teach | Edad |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maracas | Small bottle with rice, lentils or beans and cover sealed with ribbon | The lung and subdivision and compare sounds with pilling | From 2 years with supervision |
| Roast | A pot face down and a stick spoon | Push, strong and soft | From 2 years |
| Rain paddle | Cardboard tube, rugged paper in, rice and well sealed ends | Listen, long sounds and effects | From 3 years with supervision |
| Cash Guitar | A shoes box with a hole and an elastic band with a different thickness | How sound changes tension and thickness | Since 5 years |
| Retirement | Bottle or glass with different water levels and a spoon | Acute and serious; build a scale | From 5 years with an adult |
The bottles hide a small experiment: if you hit them, the one with more water sounds more serious and if you blow above his mouth, the one with more water sounds more acute. Refiner The cell phone can title water to Do, Ree and Mi and play a simple melody.
What games to choose by age
| Edad | Games that work | Duration of each game | What they develop |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 and 3 years | Musical statues, what did that sound like, pot drum, seatballs | 2 to 3 minutes | Listen, reaction to silence, sound exploration |
| 4 and 5 years | Walk to the pulse, up and down, echo with palms, conductor | 3 to 5 minutes | Stretch, sharp and serious, strong and soft |
| 6 to 8 years | Rhythms of food, question and answer, hidden song, tuning bottles | 5 to 10 minutes | Rhythm with words, memory, first melodies |
| 9 to 12 years | Retirement of the metronomer, echo with body percussion, guess intervals | 10 to 15 minutes | Rhythmic accuracy, ear, teamwork |
For 9 to 12 year old, [hearing training game]](/herramientas/entrenamiento-auditivo) It's a good challenge: to guess the distance between two grades. If they compete with families, adults don't always gain. And if your child's under 2, everything gets more simplified, look at the ideas of [baby music]](/blog/musica-para-bebes-estimulacion-musical-de-0-a-2-anos).
From play to music class
These games are quite similar to what's going on in a class of [musical initiation]](/blog/que-es-la-iniciacion-musical): First we have a pulse, sound and silence with our body, and then we have a name for them. If your child wants his or her name to play with them, we have to fix them when they lose their pulse or his or her own rules come up with, and this can be a good time to give them a guided space.
- Avoid correcting every mistake: at home the goal is to enjoy and explore.
- Don't turn the game into an exam and use it as a prize or punishment.
- He preferred shared play to videos: to play and move together weighs more than to look at a screen.
- Altertle sound and calm, and background music all day long makes children stop listening to it.
When that time comes, A medio tono there are teachers of musical initiation for young children, in virtual or at home classes in Bogotá.
Frequently asked questions
What musical play can I do with a 3-year-old?
Those who use body and silence: musical statues, walk as elephants or mice according to drum, guess sounds with closed eyes and play a pot with stick spoon.Change play every few minutes.
Do musical games replace music classes?
No, but they are prepared and complemented. At home, the goal is to enjoy and explore and at class, a teacher organizes that game in a process that advances week by week.
Do I have to have some music to play with my son?
No. Just wear a pulse with palms and encourage you to sing. If you get out of tune, nothing happens: your enthusiasm teaches them more than a perfect tuning.
What do I do if my son doesn't want to play?
Do not force them. Play with them and leave the door open and sometimes the child will join only after a while. It also helps to let them choose the game or instrument.