Title – Lego Rhythms

By – Diane Hamilton

Primary Subject – Music

Grade Level – 1-3

Objective: Students will compose quarter, eighth note, half note, whole note, and sixteenth note rhythms.

Materials: Set of Legos for each child (or Lego candy) with various lengths of whole, half, quarter, eighth, and sixteenth values stacked together. Each child can have various pieces so that no rhythm will be the same. You will also need an overhead projector.

Procedure:

Show the longest Lego and indicate that it represents a whole note because you can put four quarter Legos on top of it (demonstrate).

Show the half Legos and ask how many can be put on top of the longest Lego (2) so that they see it is “half” of the longest one and a “half note”.

Put the eighth Legos on top of the Lego and ask students to count how many can be placed on the longest Lego (8) so that each piece represents an eighth note. Indicate that you can fit 2 eighth notes on one quarter.

(Older students only) Put one sixteenth note on one quarter. Ask how many can fit on one beat (4). Ask how many would fit across the Longest Lego (16). Ask students to count them.

Separate all Legos and lay some across an overhead projector and “read” the rhythm. Ask students to copy the rhythm.

Ask students to use their Legos to write their own rhythm.

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