Lighten up Your Piano Lessons with these Turkey Games!
#teachertip: Try one or ALL of these turkey games to add some laughter to your lessons!
These games are NOT the games for your typical, orthodox piano studio. These games will get you and your students moving while also challenging their note recognition, reading, and theoretical terminology!
"My daughter loves coming to lessons and that's all I can hope for. Her sister is asking me to find a guitar teacher that's [just] "as much fun". I appreciate the way [Miss Jess] makes her lessons fun and engaging." –Kate
Turkey Game #1: FIND MY FEATHERS!
Materials Needed: colored paper, writing utensil, scissors, piano LOL
cut out 7 turkey feathers on various pieces of colored paper
write one music alphabet letter per colored feather
hide each feather around your teaching room
students need to find all 7 feathers, then match each feather to the correct key on the piano!
**challenge** feathers cannot be on neighboring keys! this challenges the students ability to locate the keys
Turkey Game #2: TURKEY TARGET PRACTICE!
Materials needed: 4 balloons, sharpie, 4 bowls/baskets, bean bags/small balls
blow up balloons
with a sharpie, draw a turkey on each balloon
draw a point value on each turkey's belly
tape balloons to bowls/baskets
ask students to define a musical term
if correct, student throw the bean bag/ball into the turkey bowl to win points!
Turkey Game #3: PUMPKIN MEMORY GAME!
Materials needed: flashcards cut in half, scissors, tape, mini-pumpkins
write one music alphabet letter per flashcard
tape each letter to the bottom of a mini-pumpkin
draw or print out one staff note per flashcard
tape staff notes to the bottoms of the mini-pumpkins
students try to find a match!
Turkey Game #4: MOVE LIKE A TURKEY!
Materials needed: NONE!
assign specific actions for each type of note in a song (quarter note, half note, etc.)
specific actions can include...the turkey peck, flap your wings, the turkey waddle, etc.
complete that action for the FULL count value of the note assigned (flap your wings for 2 counts if you assigned that action to the half note)
do the actions together for a good laugh!
Games like these are SO POWERFUL! I have observed that by engaging the creative and intellectual parts of your students brain, their ability to remember musical concepts surpasses students that are not engaged in such activities. Learning an instrument should NOT be a chore. YES it is work and YES practicing can occasionally be like pulling teeth, but who ever said that you couldn't act like a turkey AND learn music at the same time?
**Disclaimer** I do not claim the credit for the creativity for these games. Some of these games originated from other sources but have been tweaked to fit my needs and the needs of my studio.
As always, stay tuned!
(pun unapologetically intended)
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