Big Cleanup with Eurhythmics! Fun Music Education for Children
How is everyone doing with your year-end deep cleaning?
Huh? You’re too caught up in everyday life to even think about that?
I see—right, that makes sense... Around this time of year, everyone is so busy they'd even want to borrow a cat's paw.
So then!
This time, a magical way to turn a child who’s a total pro at making a mess—“Cleaning? What’s that, is it tasty?”—into a kid who loves to clean.EurhythmicsI'll teach you the secret!
...Sorry, I went too far (lol).
Well, we’ve prepared a rhythmics activity with a house-cleaning theme that’s sure to be fun even for little kids, so please check it out!
As always, we’ve prepared a dedicated video, so feel free to share it with kids who have time on their hands over the New Year holidays!
Have fun with the rhythm! Dusting and sweeping
First, let me introduce dusting and sweeping using our special broom.
A special broom is something like this:
The method is very simple, so if you have time, you can make it together with your child. If not, please substitute it with something else.
Now, here’s how to make it.
Things to prepare
- newspaper
- vinyl string
- vinyl tape
How to make
- Wind the plastic string into a suitable-length bundle and cut only one side.
- Cut a stack of 4–5 sheets of newspaper into quarter size.
- Place the vinyl string on the newspaper (with the trimmed ends of the string sticking out past the newspaper).
- Roll up the newspaper (it’s easier to roll if you tape the plastic string to the newspaper beforehand)
- Finally, wrap and stick vinyl tape around the newspaper to finish.
Now that your broom is ready, let’s start playing right away using the at-home Eurhythmics video!
I’ve added simple animations to the video, so I think you’ll understand if you follow along while watching it. But just in case, here are the instructions on how to play.
- When a high-pitched sound plays, let's clean the dust in high places.
- When the low-pitched sound plays, let’s sweep the lower areas.
In other words,The purpose of this eurhythmics activity is to distinguish between high and low sounds.It is.
And by moving in tune with the pitch of the sounds, your child will naturally get a lot ofknee bends (squats)It is designed so that someone can do it for you.
Squats—a magical game that doesn’t require space, trains your child’s motor skills, and burns off their excess energy (this part is key)!
Also, in the video, various rhythms are added partway through.
This is,
- Notice the change in rhythm (Concentration and responsiveness）
- Swing the broom to the rhythm (Adaptability and sense of rhythm）
The goal is to train it.
Many children around 2 to 3 years old can distinguish changes in pitch and rhythm, but adjusting how they swing the broom to match the rhythm might be a bit difficult.
If your child has trouble moving the broom to the rhythm, either join in and help them, or, if they’re enjoying themselves even if they can’t do it perfectly, simply watch over them and let them continue.
What’s important is to value your child’s motivation and their enjoyment.
Wiping and sweeping! Can you hear the difference in the sounds?
This time, let’s try tackling wiping/cleaning as well.
In our classroom, we use colorful scarves like these,
I think it’s enough if you just give them a slightly smaller towel at home.
Now, please watch the at-home Eurhythmics video.
How to play:
- When you hear a high-pitched rhythmic sound, dust the high places.
- When a rhythmic low sound plays, sweep the low areas.
- When a high-pitched sound without rhythm plays, dust the high places.
- When a low sound without rhythm plays, do the dusting/cleaning in low places.
It is.
In this video, when we talk about sounds that have rhythm and sounds that don’t,
- A sound that marks a steady tempo is a sound with rhythm.
- Sounds that move up and down regardless of tempo are sounds without rhythm.
Please think of it that way.
If it’s unclear, try referring to the video animation.
By the way, this eurhythmics activity also targets pitch (high and low) and flexion-and-extension movements, but there’s another new objective as well.
That is, whether it can move in accordance with the characteristics of the sound—in other words,Comprehension and memoryIt is.
As I explained earlier in the text, the audio in this video has been marked as having rhythm or not.
By the way, to explain a bit more technically,
- Sounds with rhythm → quarter note
- Sound without rhythm → glissando
I'm using it.
We will strengthen your child’s comprehension and memory by seeing whether they can distinguish what they hear and respond with the appropriate actions.
Moreover, this time in addition to having with/without rhythm, we’ve also included pitch (high and low), so it’s quite difficult for small children.
Even adults sometimes go, “Huh? Is this the wiping kind of cleaning or the sweeping kind?!”
But if you keep doing it over and over, children catch on quickly, you know.
You'll be able to do it more and more!
To nurture a child’s self-esteem and motivation, it’s important to give them plenty of chances to feel “I can do it!”, but if that’s all you focus on, there won’t be real growth.
Therefore, sometimes tasks that are a bit more complex like this are also necessary.
That said, it might be a bit difficult for two- to three-year-old children.
A child around 4 to 5 years old could probably do it.
But if you think, “My child is only two, but they could do it!”, then by all means, please give it a try!
So, did you enjoy this month’s at-home Eurhythmics session on “Big Cleaning”?
If this game helps your child discover how fun cleaning can be, they might even help with the big year-end cleaning... maybe!?