Kress Drums

Maker of drums and bell pads in the heart of Celtic Wales

Games for the Big Drum

1. Introduce children to the drum at the beginning of the session by leaving it in the centre of the room, let the children approach and explore the drum independently.
   
   
2. Play loud and soft sounds; fast and slow rhythms or songs.
   
   
3. Beat out a rhythm encourage and children to copy it.
   
   
4. Encourage each child to create their own rhythm for the others to follow.
   
   
5. Ask children to beat out their own phrase, syllables of their name or favourite words.
   
   
6. Play a rhythm to a familiar song and ask the children to guess which song it is.
   
   
7. Choose someone’s name or what they had for breakfast, chant the words together first, then try to beat it out on the drum.
   
   
8. Play some songs that are familiar to the children and encourage them to find a rhythm to them.
   
   
9. Play a musical instrument and encourage children to find a rhythm to the music.
   
   
10. In two groups:
    
    Group1 clap a rhythm with their hands;
    Group 2 follow the rhythm on the drum.
    
    Then change the groups over.
    
    
11. In two groups: conduct the children to beat the drum alternately. Then encourage the children to lead the conducting.
    
    
12. An advancement on the previous game; each group will have established their own rhythms. Taking turns to play their rhythm e.g. “cornflakes” and “piece of toast” with alternating tempo.
    
    
13. Conducting dynamics with signals for louder, quieter, stop etc.
    
    
14. Encourage parents, teachers, carers to lead the children around the room, banging the drum each time they pass it.
    
    
15. A variation on musical statues: Play music while children move around the room, when the music stops children run to the drum and bang it until the music starts again.
    
    
16. Divide into 2 or 3 groups. Each group represents a different animal e.g. dog, cat, wolf etc. Tell a story about the animals, when the name of the animal is mentioned that group beats the drum.
    
    
17. Using the same story, allocate a different rhythm, sound level or tempo to the animal. Tell story as before.
    
    
18. A stormy tale; e.g. “ It was a nice sunny day (no sound). A little cloud appears in the sky ( tap drum lightly),then disappears (stop). Then more clouds appear (increase sound), then dark clouds (tap louder), the sun disappears. The wind starts to blow (sound increases), then thunder, lightning, hale (reaches a crescendo). Then the storm calms down (drumming becomes quieter) and the birds begin to sing ( drumming slowly reaches a stop).