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Easy Games for Music Class (with videos)

Here are 20 of our favorite classroom games for the music room. Many of these can be adapted for different grade levels and class sizes. Let us know in the comments if you have a favorite variation on these games, or a great idea for a game that we missed!

This teacher’s channel actually has tons of these Four Corners games to choose from!

This one is just plain fun. Use it with body percussion, or small classroom instruments, or even gross motor movements.

There is a whole series of these Forbidden Rhythm games on this channel, and they level up in difficulty to keep the engagement high.

If you haven’t discovered Mr. Gordon’s channel yet, you *have* to check it out. This is one of the more difficult rhythm clapping videos, but would be great for secondary choral or instrumental ensemble classes to tackle.

Who hasn’t played these “Name That Tune” quizzes on YouTube? This is one that has examples your students will likely recognize, and with 100 questions, you can play it for a few minutes each day. The examples get progressively more difficult too!

Technically a “drama” game, but still a student favorite. You can create a more “musical” variation by passing rhythms, composer names, or pitches for an extra challenge.

This video has multiple games for teaching meter, but they are short, easy to learn, and your students will request them often once they’ve mastered the concepts.

This is the “Name That Tune” game, but with the added challenge of hearing all the examples played with just piano. The visuals are great in the video and help to keep students focused and engaged.

Have you heard of “Pen Tapping” yet? You will need clickable pens for this activity, but this particular video is an easy introduction because of the slower tempo. And what a fun way to reinforce rhythmic reading skills!

Sevens is a popular rhythm game that has many variations on YouTube. We like this example because she teaches the pattern slowly and clearly and then ramps up to a more challenging tempo.

This is a small group competition game that can be played with any number of groups. We’ve seen this played with solfege syllables and even instrumentalists each playing one note of a scale instead of using the alphabet.

Rumble ball is such a great activity for any age. Even the youngest students grasp the concept and get excited about being able to play an instrument. For a variation, have students take turns as “conductor” in the middle of the circle, or have pairs of students who bounce, roll, and toss the ball to each other a few times.

If you haven’t introduced “Bump Up Tomato” with your students yet, you will be shocked at how much they request it once they’ve played it. Even middle schoolers and high schoolers get a kick out of trying to make their peers crack up and then the laughter is contagious.

Raise your hand if you played this game when *YOU* were in elementary school. It’s been around a long time and students still love it. (Every once in awhile, you’ll get a student who is a mathematical genius and can spot the pattern of who will be out before every round begins.)

This game is actually very difficult, so watch the video through a few times and then decide if your group is up for it. We’ve seen instrumental ensembles who took to this quickly and spontaneously played it on bus trips and during breaks though, so it’s definitely a favorite.

Pass the Beat is a music room classic, and there are a zillion ways to change it up. Make sure you have enough space for this one.

This might be our favorite “Name That Tune” of all. It moves quickly and everyone loves these songs!

This is another one that can be modified for younger children, or leveled up to be more difficult for older students. The hand holding in this video was obviously pre-Covid, and you can definitely play without it.

Your students might already be familiar with this dance, but it’s so iconic, it seems like it should just be part of the cultural canon at this point. And it’s fairly easy to learn and do with other pop tunes as well.

There are other, newer versions of this game on YouTube, but this old version explains it so clearly that it’s much easier to learn. Once you set forth the challenge, students are VERY motivated to get through it with no mistakes, and it’s fun to speed up the tempo each time and see who can keep up!

Need even more video ideas? Check out our favorite Brain Break videos in this post: https://www.wengercorp.com/teacher-resources/our-favorite-musical-brain-break-videos/

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We are very excited to launch our Teacher Resources page at Wenger. Of course, you’ve known Wenger since you sat down in your very first student chair or sang your heart out standing on the choir room risers. Now as an educator, you’re teaching and inspiring young musicians every day, and we’d love to help. You can subscribe, or follow us on social channels so you never miss a post.

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