5 ‘Ultra Cool’ Games To Play Once Your Child Has Learned His/Her Way Around The Keyboard
See below for a Free Printable Pack to go with the post.
Once your child is able to name all the notes on the keyboard, it is imperative to play games in order to reinforce the learning and also to ensure quick recall and build the foundation for reading music notes.
Learning the names of the notes on the keyboard is the first step in learning to read music notes and once your child starts learning to read music notes, there are a variety of challenges he/she will face. However, one of those challenges should not be the inability to accurately know the name of the white notes on the keyboard.
Therefore, working through this part of the journey, slowly and thoroughly will help your child in the long run.
Unfortunately, when learning to play the piano kids are very eager at the start and therefore, slowing down the teaching can be hard.
This is why when reinforcing concepts it is important to play games, as it will keep the enthusiasm levels high.
Here are five games that you can play with your kids to keep the enthusiasm high, while also making them highly proficient in finding their way around the keyboard.
Remember to download the music theory worksheet that I have made available with this post.
Pre-requisites
– Kids have to know all the names of the white notes on the keyboard. If you haven’t taught them the note names, please go to my post, The Absolute Best Way To Teach Your Child To Name Notes On The Keyboard – Step 1.
Things You Will Need
– Paper/Whiteboard
– Pen/Erasable Marker
– Coloured Beads/Buttons/PebblesTokens/Mini Action Hero Figures
– Flashcards (optional)
Learning Your Way Around The Keyboard – Game 1
Call out the name of a note and ask your child to play it on the keyboard.
Eg. You call out G and your child can play any G on the keyboard.
Repeat at least 11 more times with different note names.
Learning Your Way Around The Keyboard – Game 2
Another variation of the above game is to call out the name of the note and ask your child to play all the notes with that name on the keyboard.
Eg. If you call out D, your child should play all 7 Ds on the keyboard starting with D1.
Learning Your Way Around The Keyboard – Game 3
Call out a specific note with a number and ask your child to keep a bead/pebble/button on the note.
Eg. If you called out E4, then your child should leave the pebble on the 4th E (starting from the left of the keyboard).
Learning Your Way Around The Keyboard – Game 4
Leave pebbles/buttons/beads on different notes on the keyboard and ask your child to write down the names on the paper/whiteboard.
Learning Your Way Around The Keyboard – Game 5
Call out or write 3 – 5 different names in quick succession and ask your child to leave pebbles on the notes that you named in the order you called/wrote.
Bonus: Reverse And Repeat
Reverse the above exercise. Ask your child to call out or write 3 – 5 different names in quick succession and you leave pebbles on the notes.
Ask your child to check your work.
Tip: Deliberately make a mistake (but don’t overdo it), to give your child the opportunity to correct you. The confidence boost he will get from it is priceless.
Fun aren’t they?
You can play these games even when you are in the middle of teaching them to find their way around the keyboard.
What other games can you think of playing with your kids to help reinforce their learning?
Karen Cadera
Founder/Creator
Mom, Teacher, Minimalist, Zero Waste Enthusiast, Multi Pod.
My daughter loved the games, but there were also worksheets and videos. The weekly lesson plans were complete, and I never questioned what I should be doing next.
This program reminded me (and allowed me to teach my son) how to read music. To me, that was the most important thing that we learned together. Of course, it was very rewarding for me to watch my son play the piano with both hands at the same time, while reading sheet music. His favorite parts of the course were actually playing the songs and doing the worksheets provided.
Download the FREE Music Theory Worksheet
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