Use these fun, colorful printouts to help younger kids with ear training. Below you’ll learn a fun game to practice melodic dictation with these cards.
There are four different game boards, and you can print as many as you need.
The game instructions tell you how to play a fun rotation game with a small group. If you’re only working with one child, just print out one game board and keep track of how many times she answers correctly.
Materials: Styled grand staff game boards with matching tokens- enough for each child to have a set, starter cards, keyboard
Set up: Children sit in a circle and each child is given a themed grand staff and matching tokens. The tokens will represent notes.
The starter cards show the students where to place the first two notes. Hold up the first starter card and allow the children time to place the first two notes on their grand staff. Make sure they’ve correctly placed the first two notes before continuing.
Instruct children to listen carefully to the 3 notes you play and then fill in the last note. It will either repeat the second note or go up or down one step.
How to Play: Teacher plays 3 notes. Students listen and then fill in the last note. Check their answers and have the students correct their boards and tell you the name of the last note. Repeat the melody for them to hear.
Students now rotate clockwise so that each student has a new board in front of him. Hold up a new starter card and play again.
Rotate after each round so students get a turn with different themed game boards.
Note: The starter cards are a separate printable which can be found here.