Pot of Gold Music Game
I’ve been testing out my new elementary level St. Patrick’s Day game, Pot of Gold, and it is fast and fun! It is a board game, where students answer a music question, roll a die, Â and move their pawn.
This is a big file so it might take some time to download. Â There are 12 pages, including 10 pages of cards: keyboards, notes, vocabulary, intervals, and key signatures. Scroll through all the pages included in this file and only print what you want. If you don’t know how to print the back to the cards, check out the FAQ at the top of my blog.
I printed the game board on card stock and laminated it, but I did not laminate the cards. I separate the cards by level before we play. I store board games in folders with pockets that I buy on sale at the beginning of the school year. On the inside of the folder, I glue the rules of the game because I forget the rules!
One of my older students was watching his brother as we played. “Hey, you’re giving him the answers,” he said. Then he quickly said, “But I guess if you don’t, he won’t learn anything.”
“You’re exactly right,” I said. The purpose of this game is to learn, and if he doesn’t know the answer, I help him out so he will!”
Objective
- To review previously learned musical symbols, intervals, key signatures, the notes of middle C position, and some music vocabulary words.
- To enjoy a seasonal game.
Click here to purchase.
Editor’s Note: This post has been revised for accuracy.
Dear Susan,
I love this game! It’s fun and as challenging as I desire it to be. Today I had 1 student choose which cards she wanted to use and then I added the key signature cards. With a circle of 5ths that has a spinner to help find the answers, it was also a fun way to introduce the topic. In addition, other students found it to be a great way to practice naming intervals. Thank you!
Juli,
Thanks for the great idea!
Hello, Susan!
I love your game idea. I will try it soon for my upcoming class. Thank you for sharing. Thank you so much!
Love this game — but can”t get it to download for some reason. I’ve tried several times. Is there something different I should be doing?
Saundra, Sorry I didn’t reply earlier. the Internet was down for a while. I’m not sure why you can’t get the file to download. Were you able to download the other files? However, most of the time the reason something won’t download is that you need to download the (free) latest version of Adobe Reader. Will you try that and let me know if it helps?
Hello, Susan,
Thanks again for yet another cool game. I think I’ll try it with my upcoming group class.
Here is an idea that you may not have considered yet. When I make up card games for my students, I use the snap out business card template (Avery 8877) for the cards. You can run them through a laser or inkjet printer, and you can print both sides of the card. That way, I do not have to cut the cards out, the game prep is a LOT faster, and they all come out looking fairly professional — all of the card sides are clean edged, and the cards are the same size.
Oh, and I can actually run the cards through a cheap card shuffler someone gave me for Christmas one year!
If you sized your cards for this, you could still print the cut lines, and those without the cards could cut them out by hand, and those with the 8877 cards can snap them out instead.
This is where I got my last batch:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0006HV2GI
(I get no kickback for this link…)
Cheers,
Henry
Ooh, Susan. I want to see those other cards. Maybe in another file?
Robbin,
I’ve got some made, but I need to polish them and make PDF’s. I’m trying to work on 5 projects at once and I’m kind of slow, I guess! But I told one of my older students that I was going to challenge him next week, so I need to make some harder notes, and add some key signatures so my 5th graders be challenged. I’m trying to find some affordable gold coins, too.
Hooray, Susan! You include so much in such a little game. My newest students expect a game at every lesson, thanks to you. And my older ones are playing this one this week to review for their upcoming theory tests at festival. You’re my hero! My own young adult children even know your name….
Thank you so much for all your great ideas and games. It’s like opening a gift every time I get your e-mail!
I love your games and my students enjoy them. Thanks for such a nice mix of cards on this one. Is it possible that you could put the cards that wouldn’t fit into this files in a separate file for us to download? These cards can be used in soooo many different ways. Thanks for everything you do!!
Yes, I can do that! But first I have some other things I have to finish.
This looks like another good game. But it brings up a problem I’ve been having: it gets harder and harder for me to lose some of these games. It can really tax my intellect to make sure the student wins most of the time. Do you have any tips on how to lose? Short of arranging the cards before hand, which is way too much trouble, or just baldly cheating to lose?
Megan, I think it depends on the “age of awareness” of the student. Maybe I’ll make a blog post on this. Good question! I have my “ways.”
Thank you, Beverly. I actually made more cards, but the file was so big I had to leave them off!
Susan, as always, I can’t thank you enough for all the games and ideas you post! I would never get around to learning the computer skills you have, to create these darling graphics. The Pot o’ Gold game is great, and I particularly like that you included a mix of symbols, key sigs, etc. so it can be used for students at different levels! My kids come in telling me that their friends’ teachers “don’t do fun things with them like you do”. Irish hats off to Susan Paradis!