Spring means time for something fresh in the piano studio. Try one or all of these piano games for kids to review music theory concepts while spicing up piano lessons this spring.
Be sure to scroll to the end where I’ll share a quick-win freebie to keep your piano students practicing over Spring Break.
All of the activities I’ll mention here are available on Teachers Pay Teachers. If you’re looking to save some time and you prefer to print and go, here’s the link to browse all of my spring activities on Teachers Pay Teachers.
Jump right over to ALL SPRING MUSIC ACTIVITIES in my TPT Store!
Or to read a little more about each activity or just get some ideas, read on, my Teacher Friend!
Spring Rhythm Bingo
This is a springtime version of my bestselling piano game: Rhythm Bingo.
The game works just like traditional bingo, but the teacher will call out rhythms. Students will then need to match the rhythm they heard to the corresponding rhythm on the board.
I love this game because it helps link the note and rest values students see in their method books with the musical rhythms they hear every day. After all, what good is music theory if you can’t apply it to what you’re playing?
The game includes three levels, each progressively harder:
- Level 1 shows the rhythm + picture + words
- Level 2 shows the rhythm + picture
- Level 3 shows the rhythm only
This helps teachers to work with groups of various ages, even combined age groups.
Check out Spring Rhythm Bingo and other bingo variations in my TPT store.
Spring Music Composition Activity
I came up with the Compose With Dice activity as I was brainstorming ways to make music composition more fun and approachable for beginning piano students.
My students love to do anything with dice. How do those magic little $0.60 cubes make everything more fun?!
I have a whole blog post dedicated to how to use Compose With Dice if you’d like to really dive in. But in summary, students are given a shell of a song (lyrics, left hand, and rhythm done for them), and they roll the dice to determine what each right hand melody note will be.
The benefits of this activity are endless! Students are reviewing so much more than just composing. Here are just some of the music theory concepts involved in Compose With Dice:
- 5-finger major scales
- Identifying notes on the treble clef
- Drawing notes on the staff
- Stem direction
- Note and rest values in 3/4 and 4/4 time
- Ear training
- and so much more
Choose from these pentascales (5-finger hand positions): C, G, D, A, and F Major
And each song has a cute picture and engaging lyrics related to St. Patrick’s Day.
Also included: a “cheat sheet” showing all of the scales and extra worksheets for practice drawing notes on the staff.
Grab this Fun Music Composition Activity for a few bucks in my TPT store.
Spring Flashcard Puzzles
The next of our spring piano games is so versatile and easy to use. I call these “flashcard puzzles” because they take the place of flashcards for a quick and easy review, but the cute pictures and the fact that they are puzzles magically make them way more fun than flashcards.
Sometimes you need an independent activity for a student to work on without your assistance. These puzzles are perfect for a student who needs to work independently!
This puzzle set comes with 90 puzzles, so there’s something for every student (not just the basic notes)!
The puzzles feature adorable Spring themed clipart.
Included in the set:
- Piano key names
- Notes on the staff
- Ledger line notes on the staff
- Intervals on the staff (harmonic and melodic)
- Musical symbols
Print only the pages you want to work on. You can even have the student cut out their own puzzles if they need some additional review [or you need them to stay occupied a little longer].
Grab these fun Spring Flashcard Puzzles for a few dollars in my TPT store.
April A-Note-A-Day Mini Book
My April Note-a-day Mini Book celebrates springtime weather all through the month of April with little spring-themed icons on every page.
But I actually have a mini book for every month, including the months of March, April, and May!
Here’s how the mini book works:
- Choose the appropriate level for your student.
- Print and assemble the mini book.
- The student will name one note per day throughout the month of February.
- Students will also collect “clues” to a final St. Patrick’s Day music joke at the end of the book.
I have had such great success with these little magical book. Because here’s the thing, students can’t wait to pull out their “page of the day” and in doing so, they are accessing their piano books. And while they’re there…might as well practice, too!
For students that have a had a couple of I-didn’t-even-open-my-piano-books weeks in a row, I like to try something like this to motivate them (and frankly remind them that piano exists).
And here is a link to all spring month mini books:
Spring Music Worksheets
The final category of spring piano games for kids is music theory worksheets. (Keep reading because the freebie is next up.)
There are six worksheet packs to choose from:
- Color By Note Spring Music Worksheets
- Piano Keys Spring Music Worksheets
- Musical Alphabet Spring Music Worksheets
- Finger Numbers Spring Music Worksheets
- Music Math (Note Values) Spring Music Worksheets
- Note Naming Spring Music Worksheets
Or you can save 25% by buying the Spring Music Worksheets Bundle.
Spring Break Bingo [Free Printable]
And finally a freebie for March or April (whenever your students’ Spring Break falls)!
This is the last of my piano music games for kids and an easy way to keep kids practicing over a longer break from piano lessons.
I like to offer my students a candy incentive for each “Bingo” they get over spring break. Many of my students come back with all of their squares filled in!
And you can download this bingo board for free in my TeachersPayTeachers store!
Thank you for being a reader of my blog. I hope to create more freebies in the future.
Check out some of my current freebies on the Resources page.
And be sure to subscribe to my email list to get future freebies and resources delivered to your inbox.
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