This post may contain affiliate links. You pay the same and I get a small commission. Yay! (Please see my/our full disclosure for further information.)
Rhythms centers can be really fun.. or really boring, depending on how you handle them. My kids always love them, because I try to include at least one game. Now, I love to stick to crowd favorites, like Kaboom! (seriously, they are disappointed it we don’t play this one!) or Go Fish (yes, even my fifth graders seem to enjoy this one), but it is nice to switch it up sometimes. What is a good way to switch it up? Well, Feed the Monster generally does the trick.
Feed the Monster is a game that I found on Pinterest. I looked and looked but cannot find the original post that I saw, however, if you type Feed the Monster into the search bar, you can find a ton of differs monster styles. In the post I read, they used it to teach sight words, but obviously, I am not going to do that. I generally use it with rhythms (although we are trying with melody soon…. wish me luck!). It does work best with younger students, and I have had success with students K-2.
Feed the Monster Rhythm Game
Materials:
- Grocery store paper bags (or a cereal box would also work)
- Monster face (get it FREE here!)
- Rhythm cards (you can check out my Monster Rhythm 1 cards here!)
Set up Directions
For this game, you will need to set a few things up.
- Monster: The monster is a brown paper bag or a cereal box. Cut a hole in it to be the mouth. I also like to have the top part open so that you can dump the cards out easily when finished. Add some eyes and hands and so forth to the bag to make it more fun.
- Cards: You will need rhythm cards small enough to fit into the monster’s mouth. I have Monster rhythm card sets (which just make them extra fun), but if you already have small rhythm cards, they will work just fine. You can also do it with melodies! Here are some Monster sol-mi and sol-mi-la patterns!
Directions
- First off, put students into groups. I find groups of 4-5 usually work pretty well.
- Each group sits at a station with a Monster bag. Cards can be stacked up or just on the floor. I like to use a hula hoop to contain the chaos.
- The first person picks up a card and reads it. If they get it right, they feed it to the monster. If it’s wrong, it goes back in the pile.
- Next person goes next.
- Keep going until you are out of cards!
It really is that simple.
I usually walk around while this is going on and assess whether students are reading the rhythms correctly or not. This allows me to assess their skills without them knowing that they are being tested– which is a win in my book (I even have a whole blog post on assessment without “assessment” in the music room!).
This game works really well in October, but I have done is in all different seasons– the kids do not mind!
What rhythm games work well with your little people? Let us know in the comments!
Happy teaching!
