I have found that most amateur adult musicians are not rhythm-literate. They “hide” and copy others and guess at rhythm notation. This may be because they never learned to independently count rhythms in music classes.

C OUNTING S EPARATE RHYTHM FROM PITCH ( AT FIRST ) 1 & 2 &, 1 TAY 2 TAY, VOCABULARY METHODS “ F LORIDA, T EXAS, M ISSISSIPPI ” B REATH PULSE, SUBDIVISIONS … WHAT WORKS FOR YOU ?

Try to establish a game day that is at least semi-regular. Make it fun. Keep order. Provide an environment where kids feel free to mess up so they will try.