Interactive music resource · Prep–Year 4

Rhythm Pizza

Build a rhythm, hear it, clap it and turn your pizza into musical notation. Use it below, or open it full screen on the classroom projector.

Ready to play

Rhythm Pizza Maker

Choose 4, 8 or 16 beats. Add ta, ti-ti, tika-tika and rests, press play, or let the app surprise the class with a fresh rhythm.

If your school blocks embedded activities, open Rhythm Pizza in its own tab.

You need

A pizza image divided into 4–6 slices, displayed on a screen.

Students practise

Beat, rhythm reading, rests, memory, ensemble timing and independent performance.

Best first use

Years 1–2: ta and ti-ti. Add rests and minims for Years 3–4.

1
Show the pizza
Each slice contains one four-beat rhythm. Clap every slice once together before adding a game.
2
Point and perform
Point to a slice. The class claps it once, together. Keep the pulse moving; correct by repeating, not lecturing.
3
Hand over the choice
A student selects and performs a slice; the class echoes. Rotate quickly so several students have a turn.
4
Eat one
Grey out or cross off a slice. The class must keep four beats of silence when it appears.

The useful teacher line

“The empty slice still takes four beats. Silence has a job.”

Clockwise

Clap around the whole pizza without stopping.

Eat a slice

Remove one pattern but preserve its space in time.

Student chef

A student chooses the order and conducts the class.

Change the recipe

The class votes to replace one slice with a harder rhythm.

Use pictures and imitation. Two contrasting patterns are enough. Keep everyone playing together.

Ta and ti-ti; add a rest when the pulse is secure. Invite short individual turns.

Add rests and minims. Students write replacement slices and test whether the class can read them.