Magnificent Music Games
My oldest daughter is always singing. Always. She’d love to make it to Broadway one day, but in the meantime, she remains active in our local musical theater productions, takes voice lessons, and performs as she walks around the house. Music is a language she speaks fluently and has embraced with her whole heart.
We’ve incorporated music appreciation into our homeschool with great results, but sometimes you just want to let loose and have fun! Whether you’ve got a musical maniac like me, a reluctant musician, or a toddler who just likes to groove, check out these magnificent music games to incorporate music into your day in delightfully unique ways!
Music Games to Play With Others
Adding the element of competition makes almost any subject immediately more fun. Board games like Spontaneous or the hilarious kazoo-spotlighting Play That Tune, are perfect for gathering the family around to make music together. Music games like Musical Crossroads Memory Game and Fiddlesticks are simple and engaging for the younger musical novices to become introduced to various instruments. Classical Snap! or a set of classical composers playing cards are music trivia variations on already-loved games and offer an educational twist featuring some significant symphonies!
Music Games to Encourage Practice
I’m not naming names, but I have a kiddo who plays the flute. This child took private flute lessons, but very rarely committed to practicing. It’s a problem I hear many parents deal with – their child loves their instrument, but doesn’t always love to practice. A Chord Buddy guitar system is a really cool tool to help guitar players learn and improve, without the need for costly instructors. A pair of electronic drumsticks are a fun and portable way to practice percussion, while Specdrums is a super cool way to create beats, challenge friends, and make music in an entirely new way. NoteSpeed flash cards work to either quiz or challenge yourself, and a set of boomwhackers is always a fun and engaging way to learn about notes and scales! This DropMix music gaming system is one of the coolest musical tools I’ve seen, combining coding-style thinking with creating and mixing music.
Music Games to Enjoy On Your Own
Not every game needs to be a competition, and sometimes your greatest opponent is yourself!
These toys and tools are great fun to enjoy alone, with the added bonus of creating or strengthening music skills. The Simon memory game is a fairly classic memory game that you might not always associate with music, but the rhythm and muscle memory skills are fantastic foundational skills to have when it comes to music. What parent hasn’t dreamt of recreating that iconic scene from Big with the giant floor piano? A far more reasonably-priced and less oversized option is this piano floor pad, which incorporates movement into music making.
Budding DJ’s will love learning and creating with this music mixing pad, while at the other end of the spectrum this toddler wooden music set is a perfect way to introduce littles to the fun and fundamentals of music. And for your mathematically-minded kiddos, Musidoku is musical sudoku. You read that correctly! Music involves more math than many realize, but this puzzle book takes it to a whole new level! And of course, the classic music game Compose Yourself is a wonderfully fun and unique way to create music and practice reading sheet music!
Music may be the food of love, but it also has inspired some seriously fun games. With such a subjective subject it can sometimes be difficult to include everyone in music studies or keep kiddos with wide age gaps engaged at the same time. Try some of these games out in your homeschool and see how easy – and fun – it can be do learn, practice, and create music!
