If you’ve not played rhythm flashcard games in your piano studio, then you are missing out!
One of the top struggles most music students have is rhythm.
And one of the first steps is to help students thoroughly understand the beats of every single note–plus giving them a randomized rhythm exercise to do.
Making rhythm exercises a game is one easy way to get students to understand and appreciate rhythm.
We’ve compiled a list of 10 rhythm flashcard games your students will love.
While you can use these with any rhythm cards, we are using the cards from Music Game Club’s Beginner Rhythm Flashcards.
1. Beats in order
One of the easiest rhythm flashcard games is timing how quickly a student can order the beats.
You can go from least-to-greatest beats or greatest-to-least.
2. Match notes & rests
Sometimes, students get very confused about rests.
So doing a rhythm flashcard game where students match notes and rests will help clarify any confusion.
You can play this like normal “memory match” games where the cards are laid out and students flip over two at a time until they get a match (e.g. quarter note and quarter rest).
Or, you can have the student flip up the cards and lay them face-up, pairing matches as soon as they flip up the pair (e.g. student may flip up an eighth note, half note, and whole note before getting the eighth rest to match on top of the eighth note).
3. Claim the beat
Lay all of the rhythm flashcards out face-up.
Teacher says “1” and the student grabs a card with the correct value (in this case, a quarter note or rest).
Continue saying other numbers until all the cards are gone.
You can time it to see how quickly the student can find all the right notes.
4. Rhythm Four Corners!
Label the four corners of your room 1-4 (you can either label them random with 1 = whole note, 2 = eighth note; or you can be mathematical about it and 1 = quarter note, 2 = half note, 3 = dotted half note, 4 = whole note).
Teacher holds up a note or rest and students rush to that corner.
5. Rhythm War
Play “war” with rhythm flashcards!
Split the rhythm flashcards into two piles; teacher gets one, student gets one.
Teacher and student flip up a card.
Whoever has the highest note value “wins” that round and collects all cards.
If there is a tie (same note or value), flip up another card and the winner of that round wins all cards on the table.
You can also swap this one around and the lowest value wins.
6. Rhythm dictation
Clap a rhythm.
Have the students rush to lay our rhythm flashcards and finish first.
For an extra fun flair, have a bell that the student can ring when they are done!
Keep points to see who can lay out the most rhythms if you need a little competition.
7. Familiar Song Rhythm
Play a portion of a melody that your student is learning or a familiar tune.
Student creates the rhythm with flashcards.
You can play this like #6 (Rhythm Dictation) if you have multiple students; they can race to finish first, ring a bell, and keep score.
8. Guess the Rhythm
Lay out two rhythms.
Clap or play one of them.
Have the student identify which rhythm they heard clapped or played.
9. Clap Back
Lay out a rhythm and have the student clap it back to you.
To make a game of it, assign points if the student claps it perfectly, deduct points if the student holds a note too long or short, etc.
10. Rhythm improvisation
Work with the student to create a rhythm.
Clap and count the rhythm then go to the piano (or another fun instrument) and create an improvisation based on the rhythm.
If your student freezes at the thought of improv, then add some note flashcards to the mix and assign a note flashcard for each rhythm flashcard (it doesn’t have to be set in stone; if the student thinks one of the notes sounds funny, you can go from there to change it and come up with a melody the student loves).
11. Bonus! Four-Four Foxes!
In addition to these 10 rhythm flashcard games students love, here’s one you’ll want to add to your studio!
Last summer, we released a Candyland type of game for note reading, and it quickly became a teacher and student favorite (Keyboard Kittens).
So we decided to create another Candyland game, this time focusing on rhythm.
Use Four-Four Foxes for new beginners
We wanted a rhythm-focus for this game, specifically for teaching young beginners what all the notes are called and how many beats they get.
The cards include eighth notes & rests, quarter notes & rests, dotted quarter notes, half notes & rests, dotted half notes, whole notes & rests, and a few specialty cards.
Even your youngest beginners can play this game!
Use Four-Four Foxes for intermediate students
Of course, we realize you need games for more than just very beginning students, so we brainstormed a gameplay variation for your more intermediate students.
The easy way is to flip a card and move to that spot. But for students too advanced for that, challenge them to build a complete 4/4 measure before they move at all! There is some strategy involved in it!
Four-Four Foxes Gameplay
The gameplay is a simple, Candyland-type gameplay where students draw a card, identify the note, and move forward–unless, of course, they get a specialty card, in which they could move forward or backward!
We know students are going to love it!
See how it’s played in our video…
- A complete breakdown of what you get in the music game download
- A step-by-step tutorial for how to play the game
- A few teaching tips and suggestions
Don’t see the video above? Watch How to Play Four-Four Foxes on YouTube here.
Here’s what you’ll get with the Four-Four Foxes download:
- Four-Four Foxes game in US Letter size and A4 size
- Four-Four Foxes game board with notes
- 59 note and specialty cards
- 8 fox game pieces
- Four-Four Foxes success poster
- Four-Four Foxes activity sheet in US Letter size and A4 size
- Print release
- Bonus Four-Four Foxes group game board (poster sized and A3 size)
Four-Four Foxes was Music Game Club’s January 2024 game of the month. Anyone can now get Four-Four Foxes in the shop here!
But there’s more!
In addition to the Four-Four Foxes printable game, we have launched four Boom™ Cards (digital music theory games) that you can get to review rhythm in a different way.
See a preview of all four digital music games in this video (don’t see the video below, watch it here).
You can get our Music Game Club Boom™ Cards each month with the Boom™ Cards membership at $9/month.
Or, save and get both the printable game and 4 Boom Cards with our top membership tier for just $15/month.
You’ll receive a wealth of resources that can elevate your teaching experience and keep student morale high all year.
You’ll maintain the energy and enthusiasm throughout the entire year, ensuring a consistent and engaging experience.
Your students will start asking for their new game each month and be excited to learn new music theory concepts!
>>> Sign up for Music Game Club Membership here
Do you have fun rhythm flashcards games to add to our list?
Comment and share YOUR favorite rhythm flashcard games! We love hearing from other teachers!
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