Autumn Scavenger Hunt (Part 2): A Piano Game

Hi All!  I decided to have 2 different types of hunts going on last week.  I already posted one of the hunts, now I'll share this one.  I especially like this version because there's no resetting of the game between lessons and it goes a lot fast.

I purchased a few bags of Autumn decor from Walmart like the ones above but you could probably find these on Amazon.  There were 8-10 items per bag.  I drew musical terms on each of the items (picture above) and placed sets of them in plastic storage bags. In addition to drawing a term on each of the pieces I wrote down the bag number they belonged to, just in case they were to fall out of their bags and get all mixed up. 

I wrote down the list of terms from each bag on a piece of paper so that I could quickly decide which term I wanted each of my students to look for from the bags. I also drew the opposite of the terms on other pieces to make sure they really knew their stuff.  Look back at the first picture.  I drew a sharp as well as a flat, an interval of a 5th as well as an interval of a 6th, a treble clef as well as a bass clef.  I numbered the bags and also wrote down the hiding place.  My students would only look for one item per bag per hiding place. This bag from the picture above went with the first clue I read out loud to the students. Down below is a picture of each of the 6 clue cards.

I left out the last word of the rhyme for my older students to figure out.  I'd give them about 5 seconds to find the hiding places before I revealed the location.  I'd then pick the musical term I wanted them to look for in each bag from the list of items I had written down on a piece of paper.  I gave them 10 seconds to find the correct drawing.  Placing the pieces in storage bags made them easier to hide.

This pic above is where I hid the first bag; behind the blue scooter.

The hiding places and clues are exactly the same as the other hunt I created but this one covers multiple levels, is quicker, and there's no resetting of the game between lessons!

Next week, my kiddos will be playing "Candy Coordinates" as their Halloween game.  Check out that blog I wrote on October 27th back in 2017.

Until next time, piano blogger signing off........

Pumpkin Scavenger Hunt: A Piano Game

 

Hi All! This week and next week my kiddos are going on a scavenger hunt that starts in the studio and continues outside to the front yard.  Above is a picture of one of the hiding places near the piano bench.

I created six scavenger hunt clue cards; a set for my older students (picture above) and a set for my younger students (picture below). I left the last word out of each rhyme for my older students to figure out.  I laminated them.

I bought a few inexpensive decorative pumpkins from Walmart and put velcro dots on them like the picture below.  

A few of my students have just learned their C position notes from the grand staff so that's what I'm using the hunt to test them on.  I've also created matching items to test other things like sharped and flatted notes, musical terms, primary chords, melodic/harmonic intervals, Major vs. minor scales, etc.  Here's a picture of one set of pumpkins below.  They hunt for the pumpkins that match the picture on the back of their clue cards and they place the pumpkins in a bag.

I went ahead and hid pairs of pumpkins inside and outside.  Here are a few hiding places.

These pumpkins are near the blue scooter.

These are near a shiny black bin.

Here's a pair outside, near the flowers.  The game took a total of 5 minutes from beginning to end!  

Here's how it works: I hand them the first clue card, they find the location of the first set of pumpkins, they pick the correct pumpkin, place it in their bag, and pick up the next clue card that I placed with the first set of pumpkins.  So clue card #2 is placed with pumpkins number #1, clue card number #3 is placed with pumpkins number #2, and so on until they're done. 

I hope this inspires you to create a scavenger hunt of your own.  Let me know how it goes!

Until next time, piano blogger signing off.......

Autumn Piano Art Activity

 

Happy Autumn! This week my students are completing an art activity.  This activity is easy to assemble and adds a nice artistic component to my lessons.

I first drew a bare tree and made multiple copies of it. 

Then I used clip art to write out meanings of musical terms and printed the terms onto 8"x 11" self adhesive shipping labels so that I could adhere the pieces onto the tree without the added step of using glue.

I drew music symbols onto confetti leaves.  Down below is what I purchased from a nearby  hobby store. It came 300 to a pack!

I poured some craft glue onto a paper plate and had my students use a Q-tip to dip into the glue and smear it onto the term they wanted the leaf to adhere to.  It takes no more than 2-3 minutes for my students to complete this activity and they're left with a beautiful piece of fall art.

Until next time, piano blogger signing off......

The Floor is Lava: Piano Game!

Yay! Summer is finally upon us.  I decided to start the summer session off with a game that many kiddos have played at some point in their childhood! 

Among some of the creative scenarios were "The Floor is Quicksand", "The Floor is an Ocean Full of Sharks", and of course "The Floor is Lava". We must give credit where credit is due regarding the origins of this activity.  Any and every child who has ever played some version of this are the original creators! Folks such as myself have simply created our own version of this popular childhood game! 

A picture is worth a thousand words so I will share a lot of pictures with you instead of loading this blog with a whole bunch of unnecessary written text.  

Above is the gameboard I created.  Cody, our dog, had to be a part of the fun.  He is lava proof of course! Lol.

I purchased 2 plastic table covers from Amazon and taped them to the floor.  I then gathered a ton of oversized books around our house for the "rocks" and wrapped them in black paper.  I used clear packing tape to securely adhere the "rocks" to the lava pool and numbered them from 1 to 10.  My numbers being black and the student's being orange.

Here are the directions I came up with.  I went over the most important rules of the game with my students before starting specifically how to safely step from one "rock" to the other.  I made it VERY CLEAR that if they attempted to jump over the "rocks" the game would be over! Safety first! Kids love to have fun so I'm happy to report that none of my students broke the rules.  

I contacted the parents a week prior to the kiddos playing this game and asked them to have their children bring an empty backpack or backsack and to wear tennis shoes or any securely fitted shoes to their next lesson.

I gathered up items from around my studio as well as purchased a few butterfly nets, badminton rackets, plastic balls, and birdies from the Dollar Tree.  After checking their homework, listening to their assigned songs, and assigning new homework it was time to play the game! 

The students loaded their backpacks with the items and placed it on their backs.  I too loaded my backsack with the same items.  The rackets and nets were placed around the lava pool where they were needed. 

We then tied the questions around our waists with yarn. I placed the papers with the questions in page protectors and looped the yarn through one of the holes of the protectors. We each had 2 papers, one on top of the other. Here are some sample questions.

And here are one of the many templates I created.

Finally, this is a picture of the tasks we had to complete while standing on the "rocks"!  

My students have really been enjoying this game! More importantly, it motivated them to study their musical terms, notes, intervals, etc. My two most important goals in creating these games and activities are to make the lessons fun, of course, but also to encourage my students to stay on top of their studies so that we can move ahead at a good clip during their lessons rather than having to spend time going over old material, techniques, and concepts.   

Until next time, piano blogger signing off.......

"Planting" Flowers Game

This week my younger students will be  "planting" flowers in this festive flower garden!  I have to say, it's WONDERFUL to be teaching lessons IN PERSON again.  Woohoo!  Virtual lessons served it's purpose during a tough time but nothing compares to holding lessons in the studio!  Back to the game......

The kiddos are given a basket full of faux flowers with musical terms, intervals, notes, etc. attached to the leaves with velcro dots.  There are four containers around the flower garden that have styrofoam squares underneath the "grass" for the flowers to stick to and musical terms adhered to the outside with velcro dots.  The kiddos look at the item on the leaf of each flower and match it to the correct items on the container.  There are twelve items in all.

I give my students five minutes to "plant" their flowers.  So far my younger students are loving this game!  Stay tuned for more in-studio ideas. 

 

Piano blogger signing off for now......