Autumn Sand: Drawing Musical Terms in Sand

Happy October!  This week my kiddos will be drawing musical terms in sand.  This game is super easy to set up.  Purchase some colored sand, fabric leaves, adhesive hooks, a box, and some pines cones (optional), plus something for them to draw in the sand with.

Fill the bottom of the box with colored sand and add a few pine cones and fabric leaves to the sand for decoration like the picture above.  On the inside of the box lid adhere 5 hooks like the picture below.  Make sure to make space at the bottom of the lid for you to be able to tuck part of the lid under the bottom of the box so that it can serve as your display for the leaves you'll be testing your kiddos on.

 

Draw a musical term on each fabric leaf with a thin tipped permanent marker.  Make sure to put a piece of paper or card stock beneath the leaves so the ink doesn't seep through onto the surface you are drawing or writing on.

 I test no more than 10 musical terms.  Once they are done drawing the five terms in the sand from the 5 leaves displayed, I quickly take the leaves off and add 5 more. 

I give my students no more than 2 minutes for this game.  Either they know their stuff or they don't.  This lets me know if they are keeping up with their checklist between lessons. 

Storage is super easy!  Just place your fabric leaves in plastic bags if you want to separate the leaves by level or place all of them in one bag, place the bag(s) in the box along with your decorations and drawing utensil, and close the lid.  There's no need to empty the sand out of the box.  Store the box on a shelf for future use.

If you try this game with your piano students let me know how it goes.  I would love to hear from you.

Piano Blogger signing off......