Notes with Flies!

This is a favorite with my beginning piano students...who doesn't like to smack a fly!  Susan Paradis made these fly flashcards.  I lay them out on the piano bench - don't put them too close together!   I draw a foam letter from my box and call the letter out and the student smacks the correct fly!  I did laminate these and they have held up really well.

I found a mini tennis racquet and a fake lollipop that the kids can choose between to hit the flies with. They can also just hit the fly with their hand or use a basic fly swatter.

Musical Terms

This is a great musical terms review game from Susan Paradis to review all of the musical terms.  I found a miniature checkers set at the dollar store but the pieces to this mini connect four game will also work to cover up the squares.  We've also used army men!  This is a great game at group theory parties as well - she has several boards with the symbols in different orders!

Notes - Fish!

My students love these colorful fish from Susan Paradis!  I found a pretend fishing wand at the dollar store and hot glued a magnet to the hook, or you can get one like it from here.  I printed the fish cards from Susan, laminated them and then hot glued a paper clip to the back.

The kids love fishing and naming the note.  If they don't seem confident knowing the note then we throw it back in the sea for a little extra help!  I will also have them play the note on the piano.  Thanks Susan!

Rhythm Review

This is probably my students all time favorite game!  I printed out the board from Susan Pardis website found here.  I also printed the cards from her website for the game.  The student draws a card, identifies the note or rest and then moves their marker goes to the correct note or rest.

I added a little twist...their marker is a lego!  They get to add the value of the note in legos or take away the value of the rest they land on.  So if they draw a whole note they have to identify it as a whole note and tell me how many counts then they add 4 legos onto their marker.  If they land on a rest they remove legos.  They love it!  I have used this during group theory parties and it has made reviewing notes and rest values a lot more fun!  This lego set has a lot of the 2x2 legos in different guy/girl colors.