How to Use Patty-Cake and Miss Mary Mack to Teach Rhythm

Baby music isnt known for its beat. Whats odd about that is baby songs like Patty-Cake and Miss Mary Mack have strong rhythms. And thats really the point. Those songs are important for teaching rhythm, which is helpful in all sorts of ways. Thepattern recognition inherent in rhythm can help kids be better athletes, better observers, and better learners. And itjust so happens that exercises teaching rhythm can also help with language fluency and reading, two other key life skills for young kids to develop.

But, like any motor skill, rhythm needs to be cultivated and developed. Thats where quick-step exercises come in.

If you play a drum on a beat, the kid has to put their feet on the beat, and if the drum stops, you stop. Its as simple as that, says Terry Iacarino, a Baltimore County public school music teacher. Get them to move, and see if they can make it silly and keep it on the beat. It also helps with balance, which is really good for a young child. So basically its a stop and go game kind of like a freeze game with a beat to it.

It wont happen overnight like any skill, it takes practice. It might take a few weeks for kids to grab the beat. But its ultimately a fun way to get the whole family moving.

Clapping is a pretty fundamental method of setting or keeping a rhythm, and so clapping games are a good way to develop that skill. Again, Patty-Cake and Miss Mary Mack are perennial favorites, but games can also incorporate toys and an element of sharing, according to Iacarino, who has a favorite of her own. Sit on the floor in a circle, and tap the floor four times, suggests Iacarino. Have a little something to pass a bean bag or a small toy. As the children tap, they say a rhyme: One-two-three-four put it on your neighbors floor. On the phrase neighbors floor, the kids pass an object in one direction. If there are enough objects for everyone, they might receive one from the other side. The game progresses in a loop.

Miranda Taylor, a dance instructor at Perna Dance Center in Hazlet, New Jersey, and the drummer for the band Exmaid, also sees a benefit to helping kids practice rhythm, particularly in cooperation and listening.

Its really hard for little kids to jump and all land at the same time, explains Taylor. We practice something called a saut. Its just jumping up and down. So well do eight jumps and then seven claps. Well jump 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8, and then well stop jumping and just clap our hands on the beat seven times. And well do that in two groups, so one group can jump while the other group claps. They can feel it with different parts of their body and actually listen to the beat. Because when you are talking about learning how to be more rhythmic, its about listening to what is going on. It helps them hear it and feel it in different ways, and that usually helps it sink in a little better.

Kids with some finer motor skills can graduate to keeping the time on a drum or xylophone. It requires hand-eye coordination, aim, restraint, timing, and motor planning.

I feel like with drumming its about a different kind of coordination its a little more specific: your hand does this, your foot does this, its not like your core is moving, says Taylor. Theres no locomotion, but the idea of what comes between two beats is very important to me. I think that is really important in both dance and drum, because learning how to be accurate is about learning how much time you have in between two beats.

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