Musical Chutes and Ladders

I've been continuously checking our local Salvation Army stores for cheap games (the ones I've gotten so far have been either 99 cents or $1.99) that I can turn into piano/music games. One I found last week was Chutes and Ladders. 

Turning it into something musical was pretty simple-- First, I took the plastic spinner off of the spinner board (as shown below). Then I cut out a circle the same size as the circle on the spinner from a white piece of paper to cover up the numbers. I glued the paper onto the spinner board with Elmer's glue, making sure to smooth it out well. The spinner originally had only numbers 1-6, but I decided to divide it into 8 different sections. I then wrote different combinations of notes in each section.  

 

 For game play, you add together the total number of beats in the section you land on, and that's how many moves forward you get. For example, the section on the right hand side of the spinner with 2 half notes and 2 quarter notes would be 2+2+1+1=6 and the player would move forward 6 squares on the board. Other than that, the same regular Chutes and Ladders rules apply.

This particular used game that I got was missing a few of the cardboard parts of the game pieces, so I used a sticky note cut in half stuck in the game piece bases. Then, I wrote the players' names on the sticky notes-- it made it easier than using the game pieces anyways since you didn't have to remember which one was yours! 

A Treble Space Spells FACE

I kept getting frustrated when piano students would struggle with a space note in the treble clef. I feel that these should be the quickest ones to rattle off since they simply spell out a word- face- it doesn't get much easier than that. But still, after me nagging week after week about how it spells face, students still struggled. I decided to make some flashcards to help. They are quick to run through each week at the beginning or end of a lesson to get the concept ingrained in the student's mind.

I start by asking the student what this word spells.

The next set of cards is missing just 1 letter from the word face. The student tells me the missing letter.

This set of cards has 2 letters missing from the word. The student tells me both missing letters.

When we get to the card with the 4 letter blanks, I use a pen to randomly point to a blank. The student tells me the missing letter that I point to and practices saying the letters all mixed up in various orders.  When they have mastered this, I flip to the very last card that has the 4 notes drawn on the staff. I say "This one is EXACTLY the same as the last card you just did."  I continue pointing in random orders with a pen as the student labels the notes with their correct letters. 

I always have the cards prepared in this exact order to ease them into the 4 notes and reinforce the spelling of "face". 

I used the backs of colored index cards-- very simple and quick to make!