5 Children's Games With a Musical Twist

As Georgina teaches the younger beginners, she likes to use games to help reinforce the concepts taught in the lessons. Alongside original games she has created, she also uses existing children's games and alters them to incorporate a musical twist. 

1. Chinese Checkers. 

This traditional game has been adapted to include note recognition. In order to know which game piece to move, the student reads a note on a card.

Charlotte and Alicia playing Musical Chinese Checkers.

Each player then moves their correct pieces. 

Charlotte and Alicia moving their game pieces.

This continues until one player has moved all of their pieces into the opposite triangle on the board. 

Alicia won!

2. Poppa's Pizza Topple

The musical element to this fun balance game is note recognition. The student reads a note on a card, and then picks a pizza topping with that note name on. They then balance it on the pizza, hoping it doesn't fall off.

Cora playing Poppa's Pizza Topple.

This continues until the pizza finally topples over!

Cora hoping that the pizza topping stays on!

3. Crazy Bee Game 

In this game the children are busy, musical bees. They have 30 seconds to collect as much 'pollen' as they can. 

Charlotte, Lucy and Olivia playing Crazy Bee Game.

On each piece of pollen there are notes worth different amounts. The student must then count up how many beats they have collected. 

Olivia counting how many beats she has collected.

If there is enough time left, the game can then be played again, with the student aiming to beat their last score.

Charlotte, Lucy and Olivia trying to beat their previous scores.

4. Ludo

In this traditional game, the student is tested on their note recognition, rhythm, and theory. Each player selects 4 animals and places them in their chosen corner.

They then shake the coloured dice to determine which card they will be using:

Red = Rhythm / Note length question
Orange = Interval question
Green = Theory question
Blue = Note recognition in treble clef
Purple = Note recognition in bass clef 

Once the question has been answered, the player can move one of their animals the number of spaces the card tells them to. 

This continues until one player has an animal (or all 4 animals) reach home. 

5. Silly Spaghetti

The musical element to this game is note recognition.

  
Each player selects either one or two colours (depending on time constraints). The aim of the game is to release all of your spaghetti and wind it onto your fork/s. 

Emma, Scarlett, Lucy and Olivia playing Silly Spaghetti.

The student reads a note on a card. They then pull out a spaghetti topping with the matching note name on. Each player then attempts to wind up their spaghetti. 

This continues until one player has wound all of their spaghetti onto their fork/s.  

Emma, Scarlett, Lucy and Olivia - I think it was a draw!

We find that by including games into a lesson, the children are able to engage in learning and reinforcing their existing knowledge (sometimes) without even realizing they're doing any work! Using games in a child's lesson also means that it is possible to divide the time into small sections, each one focusing on a particular topic for a short amount of time. This is especially useful for younger students, who may occasionally lose focus if they are sat at the piano for a long period of time.

As Georgina thoroughly enjoys adapting and making games, it is highly likely there will be another blog post soon about her ever-expanding games collection!