These 10 fun group piano lesson games are sure to be a hit with your students! Group lessons are a great way to make learning the piano fun for kids, and to build your studio. If you haven’t yet read my article about the Studio Pyramid Structure, click the link to read it and learn more about how group instruction benefits your studio.
For quick free printing, click on an image below. Teachers and parents are welcome to print as many copies of these free games as you like.
Jumbo Ice Cream Cone
Beginner piano groups especially love this game! Print a copy of the printable for each student on white card stock and cut out the pieces. Have students sit in a circle on the floor, and give each student a cone. Mix up all the ice cream scoops into one pile. Teacher holds up an ice cream scoop for the first student, and if the student can correctly name the highlighted piano key, they get to keep the ice cream scoop and put it on top of their cone. Repeat the process with the next kid in the circle, and go around the circle several times to give each student multiple turns. The students will love watching their ice cream cones get taller and taller!
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Intervaltoons
This is a great ear training group piano lesson game that works with students of almost any age. Give each student a copy of the print out, and teach them that each song listed on the game board begins with the music interval that matches its corresponding Intervaltoon. Have students sing the beginning of each song to get familiar with how it sounds, and then give each student a token. Teacher then goes to the piano, and plays an interval. Students try to place their token on the Intervaltoon that matches what they think they hear. Teacher then checks answers and gives feedback. Have students clear their game boards, and play several rounds.
Click here to print this group piano game
Teacher Potato Head
If you’re okay with being silly, you’ll definitely want to give this activity a try. The kids in your group classes will love it! Tell your students that you’re going to play Teacher Potato Head at next week’s piano lesson. All students who reach their piano practice goal at home during the week will get to choose a silly accessory that you, the teacher, will wear for the entire class next week! You don’t need any printouts for this activity, but you do need to gather some silly clothing accessories. You can just use stuff that you have around your house, or you can go to the dollar store and buy some goofy glasses, a scarf, a silly hat, wig, fake mustache–anything that your students will think is goofy. Be sure to play it up big time while your students are choosing the accessories for you–if you act silly and goofy, the’ll love the activity even more! P.S. How do you like my red wig? I bought it for Halloween so that I could dress up as Mrs. Razzle Dazzle!
Spot the Note
Give each student a copy of the printable music staff game board, and a handful of small treats or tokens. Teacher calls out a note name, and students try to place a treat on the correct line or space on the music staff. Check answers, then let the students eat their treat. Play another round by calling out a new note name. Play several rounds.
Click here to print this group piano game
Piano Keys Race
You don’t need a printable for this fun group piano game. Divide your class into two teams, and have them gather around your piano keyboard. Give each team a pencil eraser top to use as a token, and place both tokens on middle C. Ask the first student from team 1 to tell you the name of the piano key their team’s token is sitting on. If they answer correctly they get to roll a die, and move their team’s token forward (up the keyboard). Next, invite the first student from team 2 to take a turn. Play continues with by having one student from each team take a turn to name the piano key that their team’s token is on, and if they answer correctly move their token forward. The first team to reach the end of the keyboard wins.
‘Round the Circle of Fifths
To play this fun game with a group class, all you need is a copy of the printable for each student, dice, and pencils. Have students sit in a circle and give each of them a printable and a pencil. The first student rolls the dice and, starting at the top of the circle of fifths, counts clockwise around the circle and then completes the key signature on the worksheet. As soon as the first student has rolled, the next student then gets to roll the die and start working on their key signature. Once the die has made it all the way around the circle, a student can roll again if they have completed their key signature before the die reaches them. If they have not yet finished their key signature, they don’t roll the die, but keep working on completing their key signature. For example, if a student rolled a 2, then they would land on the D wedge of the circle, and complete the key signature for the key of D. If they have completed the key signature by the time the die makes it back to them, they get to roll again. If their second roll was a 3, they would count 3 spaces from where they currently are, and would land on the B wedge. They would then get to draw in the key signature for the key of B. Let play continue for a few minutes, and the student who has correctly completed the most key signatures wins.
Click here to print this group piano game
Click here for a black and white version of this printable game
Jam Together
Turn on a fun backtrack with a good beat and let your students take turns jamming. You can just let them freestyle to the beat, or if you’d like some ideas on what you could teach them, you can check out the improv resources on my website. This is a great activity to do in a group piano lesson, because the students will learn from each other as they hear other students and the music they create. I think it’s fun to give some students percussion instruments to play while others improvise on the piano. In the photo shown here, one student has a shaker egg and another has a music triangle.
Lasso Piano Keys
Your beginner students will absolutely love this group piano lesson game! You will need a hula hoop and a chair to play, along with one copy of the free printable shown here. Have students sit in a group on the floor. Invite one student at a time to come forward. Teacher points to a keyboard diagram on the printable. If the student can correctly identify the highlighted key, the student then gets to use the hula hoop to try to “lasso” the chair. After the student’s attempt, they return to their seat, and teacher calls another student forward. Play continues until each student has had a turn.
Click here to print this group piano game
Half and Whole Steps
Here’s a fun game you can play around Christmas time that helps piano students learn half and whole steps. For this game, you only need one copy of the printable, dice, and two tokens. Divide students into two teams and have them sit in a circle on the floor. Invite the first student to roll the die. If they roll an even number, they get to move their team’s token forward by a whole step. If they roll an odd number, they move their token forward by a half step. Play continues, as one student from each team takes turns rolling the dice and moving the token forward. The first team to reach the end of the keyboard wins.
Click here to print this group piano game
Build a Scale
Here’s another fun game you can play with your intermediate piano groups . Give each student a copy of the print out and a handful of small tokens, such as beans or beads. Assign each student a letter from the music alphabet (teacher can assign each student a letter, or you can write letter names on small pieces of paper and have students randomly draw one out of a bowl). When teacher says go, each student tries to build a scale that begins on the keynote they were assigned. For example, if a student was assigned the letter G, they would place one token on every key that is included in the G scale, starting at G, and including the F sharp. When a student has completed their scale, teacher checks answers and gives feedback as needed. If you want to make it a fun race, you can set a timer for three minutes and ask students to race to see how many scales they can complete before the timer goes off. Each time a student completes a scale, they show it to the teacher who will then give them a point. The student who earns the most points before the timer goes off wins! If you teach students the whole and half step pattern for scales, it may be helpful to review the pattern before starting the game.
Click here to print this group piano game
Holiday Group Piano Lesson Plans
If there’s a holiday coming up, you might want to check out these holiday group piano lesson plans that are available for purchase in my store. They are super fun and include games, sheet music, teacher lesson plan and more. You can learn more and see examples by clicking on a holiday below.
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