Canon Blast

Here some pictures I captured of a fun game we played this week:  "Canon Blast"

First I have students pick a color for their pirate ship.  I have magnetic chips, or "magic notes" in a variety of colors for the students to choose from.  I love using this magnetic chips, but any bingo chips will do.  Don't have bingo chips?  Try placing a colored sticker on a penny.  You will need at least 20 of each color.

Students identify their notes with flashcards and if they identify it correctly they get to put a chip on the matching ship.  "Fire Canon One"

For a quick game you can have the student win the ship by placing one chip on the ship.  For more teaching opportunities, make it three chips. Whoever has blasted the most ships wins!

 

Staff Flashcards

Here are some staff note flashcards I use.  They go from Low C to High C.
I have two versions:  Plain flashcards and some smaller playing cards.


Staff Flashcards



Staff Playing Cards

Buckets of Fun

Here is a fun summertime game to promote note naming. 

I place the "Buckets of Fun" board on a table or piano lid.  Students take turns trying to throw a bingo chip or penny on to the board.  If any part of the chip lands on the bucket they are to draw the note on my
Staff Board.

Students take turns trying to land their chip on a bucket.  Whoever gets all of the letters first wins.

You can make this even more challenging by not letting the students use the same note on the staff twice.  For instance if they land on C and someone has already drawn middle C, they have to draw a different C.

If you don't have a magnetic staff board you can print one out through this link to use in this game.
Staff Board
You can choose from the large Staff or the smaller staff that fits on one page.  Student can just write the note on the staff.

*Tip if you put your staff board in a page protector you can write on it with dry erase markers and use it again and again

Google Docs: Buckets of Fun

Sunny Primer Notes

For my younger students I wanted to include a game that drilled the introductory notes from Bass C-Treble G.  For the notes they have not learned we either take turns or figure out what the unknown note's name is.

Students draw cards and match them to the correct note.  You can use bingo chips to cover the notes they get right.  I also went around the sun and had the students play the note on the piano.

Google Docs: Sunny Primer Notes

Sunny Enharmonic Bright Spots

Here is a matching game to reinforce Enharmonic Notes along the same lines as my Sunny Circle of Fifths.  Students pick from the pile of cards and match the card to the correct note on the sun.

There are other ways to use this resource

• Flip the cards over in a grid pattern and play a memory game.  Try to pick the two cards that match.  F# - Gb
• Pick a card and play the note on the piano
• Players pick a color to represent their player (red bingo chips, pennies, candy, etc.) Take turns picking a card and placing a token on the correct key.  If you get two tokens on the same note, then you win that note.  Whoever has the most notes at the end wins the game.  You will need a lot of matching tokens, so I use bingo chips on a paper keyboard to play this version.

By the way, I have had bingo chips and pennies get stuck in my piano.  I had to call the tuner for a pennectomy, as he called it.  I now use paper keyboards when games call for tokens and things that can get stuck.  I've learned my lesson! 

Sunny Games on TPT

Goggle Docs: Sunny Enharmonics

Train Game

To play this fun game, print out the train and put it together to make one long train.  Then use staff cards or the Suitcase Staff Cards provided to match the note to the correct train car.  

Game idea: Take turns placing the notes on the train.  Whoever gets the last card on the train wins that pile.  Whoever has the most piles wins!  I made extra suitcases so you can have at least five of each note.  You can also make extra copies to have the number of presents you need

Alphabet Train Game on TPT

Google Docs: Alphabet Train

Google Docs: Suitcase Notes

New UNO Game: Flower Version

The UNO Game last fall has been one my most popular games. 



I decided to put a new spring background to the game with flowers.  Of course the game is played the same as the normal UNO game.  Directions for UNO can be found here.  Students are given 7 cards and must match the color or note to play.  They must say the note name to play.  Whoever is out of cards first wins.  Have Fun!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1q1ate5tkHtPPPkTnCD9XD2MQiUid3Id84A/view?usp=sharing

Help the Bee Find His Key: Note Names

Here is another version of Help the Bee Find His Key.  Once worksheet focuses on Middle C Position.  I also created one using Treble Clef Notes and Bass Clef Notes.  And last, but not least a Key Signature one.

Google Docs: Middle C Position
Help The Bee Find His Key Middle C Position

Google Docs: Treble Clef

Help The Bee Find His Key Treble Clef

Google Docs: Bass Clef
Help The Bee Find His Key Bass Clef

Google Docs: Key Signatures

Help The Bee Find His Key Signature

Tic Tac Toe Levels 1-3

Tic Tac Toe is a classic game that can be played with just about anything. When playing at an individual lesson, I play one side of the board and the student plays the other.   I then pick an Alphabet card and mark the corresponding note on the Tic Tac Toe board.  You may only mark one note at a time.  The first player to get three in a row wins.  Another way to play with the boards is to make the player have to cover all notes on their board for a 'wipe out' of all notes.

Level One covers all the notes in Middle C Position.  Here are instructions for a group lesson
Also try Tic Tac Toe for the Keyboard

Google Docs: Tic Tac Toe Level One

Tic Tac Toe Level One: Middle C Position


Google Doc: Tic Tac Toe Level Two: C position

Tic Tac Toe Level Two


Google Docs: Tic Tac Toe Level 3: Add space notes in Treble Clef

Tic Tac Toe Level Three

Valentine Letter Game

In this Valentine Game, students pretend to mail letters or valentines out while matching staff cards to their letter name.

Take some envelopes and write a letter on it from A to G.  Pass out the Staff cards so that each student has an equal amount of cards.  Place the envelopes face down.  Turn over the first enevelope and whatever letter is on the envelope, is the one the student must place in the envelope to mail.  If they do not have a card that matches the letter, then they don't get to play.  The first student(s) to get rid of all their cards win. 

A fun idea I had was to put the notes on foam Valentine's.  I got these last year at a great discount after Valentine's Day.  Be on the look out and you may find a good deal on these as well.  I used my labels and stuck the notes on them.
As we played this game this week, we tried to think of exciting places that the letter was going to.  A for "Atlanta" or D for "Dallas."  You could even add these places to the envelope if you wanted.

You could also play this with keyboard cards, chord cards and key cards.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY

 

Christmas Train with New Easy Level!

Can you help Santa get the presents to the right house?  Match the notes to the correct train car.  You should be able to print out the train and put it together in one long row.

Game idea: Take turns placing the presents on the train.  Whoever gets the last card on the train wins that pile.  Whoever has the most piles wins!  I made extra presents so you can have at least five of each note.  You can also make extra copies to have the number of presents you need.

Christmas Train

Tricky Turkey

These worksheets have students fixing Mr. Tricky Turkey's mistakes.  I find students love correcting things and pretending to be the teacher.

  Tricky Turkey Level 1

Tricky Turkey Level 2

Smaller Cards for Musical UNO: Colored Leaves Version

Here are the UNO playing cards in a smaller version

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HEc2un_hnPDo3wHLcCNSSdt5jbpPZbB_3Q/view?usp=sharing

UNO: Colored Leaves Version

I created a UNO Game, using staff cards printed on colored leaves.  It is played like the original UNO game, except you match note names: A,B,C,D,E,F,G, instead of numbers.  Middle C can match Treble C, and so on.  A fun way to reinforce those all important note names.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_noK3FTJrq_R19Nc0xkVy1tMjg/view?usp=sharing

Candy Match Up

Here is a fun worksheet for primer levels that have students match the notes to the missing letters.  Download to print, for some reason it is not linking up right to print straight from this page.

Wiggly Worm Game

Wiggly Worm Game: Students take turns 

Identifying the apple card.  If they identify it correctly

they get to keep the card.  When they draw a wiggly

worm card, they get to take a card from the another

player, but they must identify the card first.  If they 

cannot identify the card they must give it back.  

Play continues until all the card are gone.  Whoever

has the most cards at the end of the game wins.

Apple Keyboard Flashcards

Apple Staff Flashcards

Apple Keys Flashcards

Eight is Enough Game

I have come up with a new game called "Eight is Enough"

To play you need staff playing cards with a set of A- G.  I recommend two sets of A-G for each player.  Staff playing cards don't have the answer of what note it is on the back.  I have some flash cards I made. I suggest printing or copying them on card stock and then cutting them out.

Staff Playing Cards

Flash Cards

Each player gets four cards and the rest of the cards go into a pile.  Four cards are set around the pile, face up.

The youngest player goes first.

Each player takes turns building on the card that is face up.  You can build up or down regardless of clef.  So if the starting card is a Middle C you can put a Treble D above it or a Bass Clef B below it.

When you play a card you draw another card from the pile.  If you have no card to play you forfeit your turn.  You can trade in two cards in your hand for two cards in the pile, placing your two cards at the bottom.  If you trade in two cards, your still forfeit your turn and may not play a card until the next turn.

The person who plays the eighth card wins the pile.  The person who gets four piles is the winner of the game.

Variations: You could make the piles move up and down by intervals: 3rd, 4th, 5th, etc. . You could also do chords.

  

Place Race

     Over the summer I invested in new flash cards to supplement my own.  So now I have many, many flash card to play with, which is super!


      To start off the new fall semester I chose to play a new game called "Place Race" to review the notes, chords and keys.  This is a great review game at the beginning of the year because you can limit what you test the student on.  To play you need alphabet cards, staff cards and a stop watch.  For Level One, I set out two rows of alphabet cards C D E F G.  I make the first row Treble Clef and the bottom row Bass Clef.  I give the student flash cards for C position in both clefs.  I have the student place the correct staff card on the letter and time them to see how fast they can match them up.  Then we play again and I see if they can beat their first time.   Here are some suggested levels, but I had one student who had a piece with ABCDE ledger lines in between the clefs, so I pulled out those flash cards and had her match them up.


Level One: C position (Top row Treble Clef, Bottom row Bass Clef)
Level Two: Lines and Spaces of the Treble Clef (Top row lines, bottom row spaces)
Lines and Space of the Bass Clef (Top row lines, bottom row spaces)
Level Three: Ledger Lines (Top row Treble Clef, Bottom row Bass Clef)
Level Four: Chords (Top row major, bottom row minor)
Level Five: Keys (Top row Sharps, Bottom row Flats)
 Keys (Top row major, Bottom row relative minor)


I could see modifying this to include intervals as well, rhythm values, just by changing the alphabet cards to number cards.

Lucky Penny

Lucky Penny

This game is fun around St. Patrick's day and great way to review note names.

Items needed:

Pennies

Staff cards

Green sticker

Candy

1. Place a green star or sticker on two - five pennies.

2. Place these pennies on the keyboard.

3. Students take turns taking off the penny that matches the staff card.

4. If they get a lucky penny with the green sticker on it they get a small candy (starburst, piece of bubble gum, etc. . .)

Secret Color Game

The Secret Color Game

This is a great game to work on note location.  Many students can name notes on flash cards, but when it comes to playing the note in the right place on the keyboard, they sometimes are too high or low.

Directions:

1. Place bingo chips or jewels on the keys you want to review.  I have different colored jewels that I use.

2. Before you start the game you take one jewel and hide it under a book or cup.  This is the secret color.

3. The student takes a jewel off the key that matches the flash card. 

4. You or another student take turns taking jewels off.

5. At the end you reveal the secret color and that color is worth two points.  You add up your jewels and get two points for each jewel that is the secret color.  Whoever has the most colors wins!

Variations:

1. For beginners you can just use alphabet cards instead of flash cards.

2. For students who don't know many note names, you can put more than one jewel on a key.

3. Another way to start the game is to have the student put the jewel on the key as you review the note names and where the location of the note is.