Rhythm-Note Race

Recently I was reinforcing basic rhythm and note identification with my 4-6 graders in the local Christian school I teach at once a week so I put together a game that incidently I will also be using in my studio's group lesson this week.

Inspired by Natalie of Music Matters Blog (Thank you, Natalie!), a couple of years ago I made this treble clef game board.  Because it has two different colored circles throughout, I grabbed some flashcards -both rhythms and notes on the staff (Thank you Wendy!), a die, some game pieces and some game tokens and instantly had a way to drill them.

They worked in teams and each had a colored game piece.  Each team would roll the die and move their game piece that number of spaces.  Depending upon whether the circle was blue or yellow determined their "challenge".  If it was blue, they had to name the note on the staff (randomly chosen).  If they landed on a yellow square, they had to tap out a chosen rhythm.  If they were successful, they were allowed to stay on that circle.  If they didn't get it right, they had to go back to the circle they were on before the roll.  Obviously the first to make it to the end won!  What was also nice was that we had been practicing drawing the treble clef, so they knew exactly which way to follow the circles.  An added bonus!

This was such a big hit that the kids were all asking me to play it again next week!  This game board is a big hit in my studio as well so I'm sure this game will be just as fun and challenging for my studio students!