'Switch' idea contributed by Peter Wood

Peter writes: 'This is a rythmic circle game. The idea is to have a leader. (Likely to be the teacher first, and then it could be a child once they know what to do.) All the children sitting in a circle copy a simple rhythm. e.g. clapping with two fingers on to the palm of the other hand. Then the leader will tell the rest to continue while he/she changes their way of creating a beat. From this point onwards the leader changes to a new style of creating the rhythm at the word "SWITCH". The children now have to copy the previous beat whilst the leader performs a new one. The object is to look, listen and follow a pattern. When you want them to stop, the leader folds his/her arms and then says switch. Keeping the same pace is often tricky at first and so listening skills are being developed.'