I’m gonna do what frozen things do in summer!
I have ONE more music class until summer break!
Are you done with school for summer? Do you still have a few more days or weeks left? Either way I hope you’re able to enjoy some sun and have some have fun!
For my last couple music classes of the school year, we do centers with a bunch of games and I have a special video game I bring in that the kids ask me about all year long but we only do on the last day!
Centers Games
For my centers games at the end of the school, I choose easy, light-hearted games that we’ve done throughout the school year that don’t require too much thought or effort. Let’s face it, the kids brains have already shut off at this point and are in vacation mode. So I just want them to have fun that’s centered around music.
A few centers I use are my Floor Staff Toss game, Rhythm Basketball, Go Fish card game, and Music Memory. These are all easy games for kids to play and they are easy to make or put together with very little prep or effort on your part.
Floor Staff Toss: I have a music staff on the floor (made of fabric or just tape on the floor) and some bean bags. Students toss the bean bag onto the staff. Where it lands they name the letter and each line or space of the staff is worth a certain number of points.
Rhythm Basketball: I have a cheap little basketball hoop that has a series of holes with numbers. They draw a rhythm card, clap the rhythm, and toss the ball to try to make a basket to earn the points. You could easily just use a trash can or basket just as easily.
Go Fish: I have actual music Go Fish cards and games but I’ve also just used a group of rhythm cards that has spring pictures and matching rhythms. (Do you have an umbrella rhythm? Go fish!)
Music Memory: A stack of cards with various music symbols face down on the table (make sure there are 2 sets of the same symbols so they can make matches!). They try to make matching pairs to win!
Donkey Konga
Many years ago now, my husband and I were in a Game Stop store (sells video games) and saw this game that was on sale because it was being discontinued. It was called Donkey Konga and was played using the Nintendo GameCube and a set of bongos. We searched a few Game Stop stores and found 4 sets of bongos that fit the game and I knew we had found a gold mine for music class!
So this has become a tradition for my last day of music class for the school year for probably over a decade now at least. It’s loud and only 4 players can play at a time, and the GameCube is relatively obsolete at this point BUT the kids go nuts over it every single year!!
You have to hit the correct bongo at just the right time in the music to win and get the highest score. For each class I separate the students into groups of 4 that rotate through the game for one song at a time. Those students that are not playing at the moment, I have musical coloring pages and word searches, things like that to keep them busy while they watch the other groups play and wait for their turn to bongo.
Its loud, drives the other teachers a bit crazy, but they have a blast! Its the perfect way to close out the school year! With a musical bang!
End of school year SUMMER fun
You might not have a super fun and awesome video game to end your school year but find some fun that works for you and your class! Keep it simple and light. Check out my store for some fun summer ideas that you can incorporate with this in mind! Hang in there! You can do this! The end is in sight!
Miss Donna 4 Music 