A simple and fun way to incorporate rhythm into your child's body is to read stories that rhyme to your kiddo... and since it's pretty hard to get away from books that rhyme, this should be easy!
Some stories work better than others. Today, we did this with an old favorite, "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?" by Bill Martin/Eric Carle.
Some great books for rhythmic reading that we've used:
"Jamberry" by Bruce Degen
"Circus Parade" by Harriet Ziefert
Also, any collection of Mother Goose Rhymes are great too. Scholastic has a series out of themed Mother Goose Rhymes. We have the colors-themed one below, which is great!
But, again, rhyming books are everywhere!
Some guidelines:
-Chant the lines as appropriate - incorporating strong and weak beats (i.e. LITTLE boy BLUE come BLOW your HORN...).
-Use different pitches in your voice - highs, lows and in betweens as fits your story or rhyme.
For example.... in "Brown Bear..." I usually alternate between high- and low-pitch voices for the various animals as I think they would talk. :-)
-If child is on your lap, feel free to move your legs up and down to the beat, or tap your child's arm to the beat, or sway to the beat.... anything to communicate the rhythm of the text.
-Go ahead and sing it too! Your child is very forgiving, by the way.... :-)
So, simple and SO effective when done regularly. In my teaching, the NUMBER ONE problem I encounter in kids is a poor sense of rhythm and this is the HARDEST thing to instruct a student in if they don't naturally "get it." So, I encourage you ALL to help the cause for rhythm!
Have fun!
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