Submitted by Maureen Wysham, Great Mills, Maryland

Idea posted March 1, 2002

I have established, over many years, a set of games which I often use individually, but also put together in a Music Olympics at the end of the year. This group of games, which has grown to seven, is a great end-of-the-year motivator when we're all anxious for summer.

I divide each class into teams, they pick a country's flag (I have a poster with flags around the world), and they color it and research the country's stats in an atlas. Then we play the games. I keep track of the scores from day to day and give out die-cut place ribbons at the end of the year.

This whole process lasts a good three weeks and is a great review for the year, as well as something to keep the kids enthusiastic. They start asking me about Music Olympics in the fall!

I've listed the games and a brief explanation. This is a lot of work, but well worth it, in my honest opinion.

MUSIC OLYMPICS GAMES

  • Name That Tune
  • Wheel Of Fortune
  • Music Jeopardy
  • Looney Tunes (A board game with composers' busts as the playing pieces, where each team has to answer questions about songs, sometimes singing the tune to get the credit.)
  • Who Wants To Be A Music Genius? (a recent addition)
  • Instrument Concentration (A game with a board covered in pockets using pairs of instruments. The students have to find the match, name the instrument, and name the family. I have specialized card sets, like all percussion for the 5th graders.)
  • Musical Chairs (Always the final and most frenetic game.)