Submitted by Beth Haugland & Gretchen, Grantsburg, Wisconsin; Illinois
Idea posted January 11, 2005
Skittle Staff Game
I made 6-7 decks of playing cards and laminated them. The playing cards include the music alphabet letters (3 of each letter), two "Any Space" cards, two "Any Line" cards, two "Lose a Turn" cards, and two "Eat a Skittle" cards. Each students needs their own staff. I have a set of 8x17 staff cards that I got from the Music and You series which are also laminated. Finally, each student needs Skittles. I usually buy the big bags and give each student about 15 in a cup or baggie. I divide the class into groups of about 4-5 and pass out the supplies.
To Play: Each student takes a turn drawing the top card from the pile. If they draw a letter, they put a Skittle on that line or space. For E's and F's they can choose if they want to put it on the line or space. If they draw "Any Space" or "Any Line," they can pick where to put their Skittle. Of course, their favorite is to draw "Eat a Skittle." I always remind them to eat a Skittle from their cup and not off their board! The winner is the first person to get either all five lines covered or all four spaces covered. You could also have the winner be the first person to fill all the lines AND spaces. Since I don't want Skittles touched by dirty hands, at the end of class, each student gets to eat their Skittles. Everyone is a winner! -Beth Haugland
Skittle Game Adaptation
I've played the Skittles game a few times with my recorder classes and decided to add more cards like:
- Reverse
- Eat a Skittle (from the board)
- Lose your turn
- Remove a Skittle
- Remove a (specific color) Skittle
- Take away 2 Skittles
- Skip
In the original form, our games were finishing too quickly. However, adding a few more fun cards helped to slow things down and create more interest. -Gretchen