Lately, we’ve been sharing many Halloween piano printables. But there is more to October than just Halloween!
If you have students and families that do not make a big deal about October 31, then you’ll be happy to know that today we are sharing a fall keyboard awareness game.
Instead of spooky witches and scary vampires, Squirrel Away is a board game based on a loveable squirrel who is a tad confused about getting ready for winter!
Created for early primer students, Squirrel Away helps students learn the names of the white keys on the keyboard.
How To Play Squirrel Away: A Fall Keyboard Awareness Game
The Squirrel Away game file is found at the bottom of the post. It includes instructions, two game boards, and 18 playing cards. To work properly, the file must be printed double-sided.
We have also outlined the instructions below:
1. The student and teacher should each have a game board, a game marker, and 7 coins. On the game boards, each player places one game marker over the black circle and one coin over each green circle. The deck of cards is shuffled and placed between the game boards.
2. To begin, the student removes the top card from the deck and flips it over to reveal a keyboard with a marked key. The student examines her game board and removes a coin below a squirrel that is carrying a TV displaying the corresponding key name. Note: During future turns, if the coin has already been removed, the player’s turn is over.
3. Next, the teacher repeats Step 2.
4. Players alternate turns until one player has removed all of the coins from her game board. At this point, the player slides her game marker along the path and to the stump, thereby winning the game
5. If all cards have been removed from the deck before a player wins the game, the cards are shuffled again, and the play continues.
Before You Download Today’s Game
Squirrel Away is designed to correspond with our piano book, Nuts for Alpha Notes, V. U. Level C.
Like all of the piano books in Andrea and Trevor Dow’s Very Useful Piano Library, Nuts For Alpha Notes is a pedagogical powerhouse jam-packed with piano songs and activities.
Inside you will discover 7 loveable piano pieces with lyrics and teacher duets, keyboard awareness games, rhythm reading practice, finger number exercises, a coloring activity, a practice tracker, and a certificate of achievement.
And there’s more…
Nuts For Alpha Notes contains piano solos composed on the Wunder Staff.
Unique to the WunderKeys Method Books and resources, the Wunder Staff is a modified grand staff used with very new piano students.
Its unique design builds a foundation for future note reading success while also providing a home for alpha notes so students can learn the directional movement of music with much greater success.
Click here or on the cover below to get it today.
Download Squirrel Away
Are you ready to reinforce keyboard awareness with your primer piano students? Click here or on the image below to download Squirrel Away. Remember to print the file double-sided.
Thank you for this Fall game Andrea. I have several students who do not celebrate Halloween and I have needed these fall games to play with them. Thank you for sharing your creativity with us all!!