Spring seems to be in fast-forward… the weeks are flying by and now, Easter weekend is just around the corner. Fortunately, this year, I am ready!
The week before Easter weekend is going to be non-stop fun in my studio. Today I wanted to share four “egg-cellent” (and easy) piano games that I will be playing with my piano students.
If you are looking for more Easter fun check out our Easter Note Reading Jigsaw Puzzles and our Easter Intervals Board Game.
Four Fun Piano Games You Can Play With Easter Eggs
For the four games below, all you will need is a set of plastic easter eggs (the kind that break in half down the middle) and some basic office supplies. The games are low-prep but packed with learning and fun. After half an hour spent getting ready, you can simply tuck your organized materials to the side and be ready to play on April 10th!
Ear Training Egg Toss
You will need:
6 plastic or paper cups, 6 plastic Easter eggs, a sharpie, masking tape
How to Play:
Using your sharpie, write 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, and octave in the bottom of each cup. Tape the cups together so they stand as a “six-pack”. Set them on the floor. Place a line of masking tape on your studio floor a short distance away from the cups. Give your student a basket of 6 plastic eggs. Instruct your student to stand behind the line of masking tape.
Play melodic or harmonic intervals on the piano. After an interval has been played, have your student name the interval and then toss an easter egg, attempting to land it in a cup. Analyze the bottom of the cup where the easter egg landed. If the label on the bottom of the cup matches the interval played, the egg remains in the cup. If not, the egg is removed from the cup and returned to the student. Continue to play until all six cups contain an egg.
The Egg Beat-er Game
You will need:
7 plastic Easter eggs, a sharpie, 17 coins
How to Play:
Draw a quarter note on an egg, a quarter rest on an egg, a half note on an egg, a half rest on an egg, a whole note on an egg, a whole rest on an egg, and a dotted half note on an egg. Place the seven eggs in a basket.
Have your student sit at a table with the seven eggs in the basket. Place the 17 coins in a pile on the table. Explain to your student that each coin represents one “beat” in 4/4 time and that she will be racing to fill each of her plastic eggs with the appropriate number of coins according to each egg’s label. For example, the egg labeled with a Whole Note would be filled with four coins.
On the word “Go”, begin timing your student as she races to fill her eggs. Keep track of all of your students’ times and see who is the “Egg Beat-er” champion!
Egg-cellent Scales
You will need:
16 plastic Easter eggs halves (label two halves with “C”, two halves with “D”, two with “E”, two with “F”, two with “G”, two with “A”, two with “B”), four plastic egg halves labeled with the “flat” sign, four plastic easter egg halves labeled with the “sharp” sign.
How to Play:
In this game, your student will be racing to create major scales (in keys up to 4 sharps and 4 flats) as fast as possible. To begin, call out a scale and have your student arrange the labeled egg halves in the correct order on the floor according to the scale called (placing the egg halves open-side down so they rest firmly). If the scale contains sharps or flats, instruct the student to use an egg half labeled with a sharp or flat to cover the egg halves that are affected by the sharp or flat (by stacking them). Time your student so they have a target to beat in future rounds.
For example. If you call out “D Major!” your student should arrange the egg halves as “DEFGABCD” in a line on the floor and then stack egg halves labeled with sharps on top of the F and the C egg halves.
Egg-sercise Fun
You will need:
This printable “grid”, 16 egg “halves” (use the halves from Game #3)
How to Play:
Place the note-reading grid on the floor and the egg halves to the side. Start the timer and then have your student place “note name” egg halves over the corresponding notes on the grid as fast as possible. Alternatively, you can add a keyboard awareness element to the game by playing a key on the piano and then having your student place the corresponding note name over the corresponding note on the grid.
Have You Heard Of The Very Useful Piano Library?
We all use method books. And for good reason! They are the backbone of piano lessons.
But method books can’t do it alone.
The most overlooked piano teaching tool is the supplementary piano book. It can, quite literally, save a student.
Why then, after hundreds of years of piano lessons, has someone not yet created a library of imaginative supplementary books that get kids really excited about practicing and making music?!
There are thousands of storybooks for kids who love dinosaurs. There are a thousand more for kids who love unicorns.
And yet the worldwide library of supplementary, story-based piano books could probably fit in a backpack!
For years, Andrea and I have wanted to change this. And now we have done so with Andrea and Trevor Dow’s Very Useful Piano Library.
You can check out all of the books here, or click on a cover below to check out some favorites.
Bonnie says
Off to buy some eggs! My students are ready for some fun! This has been a long stretch of lessons (end of Christmas vacation to Easter with no built in breaks). While we are doing great on spring recital prep, the kids are struggling with maintaining focus. These Egg Games will be “eggscellent”!!!! Thank you!!!!
Andrea says
Lovely! Hope you have great fun with the games.
Bentia says
This is eggscellent!!! I have collected soooo many eggs over the last few years for teaching and I just didn’t know what to do with them all! Out they come for some egg game preparation! Thanks for these awesome ideas 🙂
María Laura says
This is brilliant!! 😀 I was looking for special easter materials for my group class, a part from the games from the pianogameclub that my students enjoy so much! I’m off to buy some plastic eggs! 😉 Thank you so much!!
Andrea says
Hi Maria – Great! Hope we saved you some planning time 🙂
Gaylinn says
We just finished our recitals and I’m worn out. This will make the next two weeks a breeze and a joy! THANK YOU!
Andrea says
Hi Gaylinn – congrats on completing your spring recitals! Yes… time to enjoy some well-deserved “down time” and have some easy piano theory fun with eggies! 🙂 Cheers!
Linda Hyland says
Good ideas for my young ones! I bought more plastic eggs, too! We’re preparing for recital, but the younger ones always know their music before the older ones so we can play games! 🙂
Teresa says
These have become my April EGG – cellent times. Students have come up with great ideas to play at their personal learning place. It is EGG-citing to see them so engaged in their learning in such a fun way. Thank you VERY MUCH!
Alice Corbett says
Thank you so much, these are great!
Andrea says
You’re so welcome! Thanks for commenting and for reading our blog!