Using pizza to teach kids rhythm is one of the many unique methods we use in the KC & Friends books to keep kids engaged, having fun, and learning piano.
In KC & Friends land pizza is the best food, so it might as well teach rhythm also!
In Level 1, we let kids create a relationship with the Friends/notes/keys, and they learn about the different tones each Friend makes.
By the time they get to Level 2, they are looking for an explanation about what notes to play longer and shorter. In the songs they hear, some notes are short, and some are long: how can you tell whether or not to play the Friends long or short?
Luigi has the answer! And we are ready to teach them!
At first, Luigi enters the picture and explains the whole, half, and quarter pizzas which the kids relate to–everyone has had pizza before! Next Teacher informs them of whole, half, and quarter notes, relating the size of the pizza slices to the lengths of the notes.
Kids learn to clap the rhythm in the KC & Friends pattern. Additionally, they count the individual notes at first so they can form a relationship with the value of each note.
This doesn’t last for longer than a few lessons/weeks, but it gives them the foundation of understanding that each note has its own value. Providing our students with such a strong foundation makes it that much easier for them to learn and understand much more complex rhythms later.
Before long, Luigi and the Teacher are helping kids learn about measures and time signatures and (here’s the shocker!) kids understand! You no longer teach a kid for two years to find out they “don’t get” rhythm.
Our approach is layered, just the way kids learn. It works and it’s delicious, just like pizza! Yum! Check out our set of Level 2 Lesson books for more information on how using pizza to teach kids rhythm is a method that truly works!
Filed as: Level 2, Teacher Resources
