Musical Dice

This one is a lot of fun and a great way to reinforce music theory that you've taught the children! Just a warning--you MUST have a confident accompanist in order to do this activity. If your Primary pianist is struggling or uncomfortable, this one will probably stress them out.

Supplies needed:

• 6 sets of opposing musical terms. I use the following:
• forte vs. piano
• Treble Clef (girls) vs. Bass Clef (boys)
• a cappella vs. accompanied
• staccato vs. legato
• Adagio vs. Allegro
• stand up vs. sit down
• pictures to represent each of the 12 terms above, printed very large (1 per 8 x 11 piece of paper)
• 12 pieces of thick construction paper 
• I like to have a pink piece to glue the Treble Clef on and blue for Bass Clef (helps the kids remember which one is which)
• marker
• one die, preferably in some small container to avoid die-tossing across the Primary room
• list of 8-10 songs you want to sing

Set up:

1. Glue your pictures to your construction paper
1. Don't forget to use pink for Treble Clef and blue for Bass Clef
2. Arrange the papers into their sets (forte and piano together, etc.) You should have 6 piles.
3. Label the back of each paper in the set, giving each a number from 1-6 to correspond with the numbers on the die. For example:
1. forte vs. piano (write '1' on the back of both of these)
2. Treble Clef (girls) vs. Bass Clef (boys) (write '2' on the back of both of these)
3. a cappella vs. accompanied (write '3' on the back of both of these, etc.)
4. staccato vs. legato
5. Adagio vs. Allegro
6. stand up vs. sit down
4. Place sets on the table or floor in numerical order
5. Have your die (in container) ready

Game play:

1. Before beginning, give the kids a quick review/introduction to all the terms on the pieces of paper. I usually just hold up each set and remind them of what "staccato" means, etc.
2. Choose a child to come roll the die. The number they roll indicates which set they get to use.
3. You can either hold the set yourself or let the child hold them (one in each hand).
1. Whichever picture is held up high is the one the kids have to follow. So if the child is holding "staccato" in one hand and "legato" in the other, he should pick one to hold up high--that's how the Primary knows how to sing.
2. Alternate between the pictures, lifting them up and down at intervals so the Primary has to keep switching back and forth between "staccato" and "legato" or "Adagio" and "Allegro."
4. Sing the songs in the order. 
5. Two things you may want to keep tabs on:
1. If you're letting the kids hold the pictures, make it clear that they can't just continuously swap back and forth the entire time. That ruins the fun! If you have to take over mid-song, do it!
2. Make sure your pianist is comfortable with the songs you've chosen and is capable of following the directions. This one will even keep your pianist on his toes!