Submitted by Tina Morgan, Columbus, Missouri

Idea posted May 11, 2004

Here is a fun game to help your students learn their instrument families:

Materials:

1. Fish shapes with pictures of instruments on one side (I have magnets on mine so that they stick to a metal board - other possibilities are to lay them face down on a table or the floor or attach them to a bulletin board.)

2. Several "wild fish" - write the word "wild" but don't include a picture of an instrument

Directions:

1. Divide students into 2 groups.

2. Have students take turns "catching" fish. Have them identify which family of instruments their fish belongs to. (I allow my students to look at a poster.)

3. If they catch a "wild fish," their team takes one fish from the other team.

4. The team with the most fish wins.

To keep things moving, I had all of the fish stuck to a metal board, and the kids just came up and took one off instead of using a magnetic fishing pole to "catch" the fish.