Submitted by Tina Morgan, Columbus, Missouri
Idea posted May 11, 2004
Here is a fun game to help your students learn their instrument families:
Materials:
1. Fish shapes with pictures of instruments on one side (I have magnets on mine so that they stick to a metal board - other possibilities are to lay them face down on a table or the floor or attach them to a bulletin board.)
2. Several "wild fish" - write the word "wild" but don't include a picture of an instrument
Directions:
1. Divide students into 2 groups.
2. Have students take turns "catching" fish. Have them identify which family of instruments their fish belongs to. (I allow my students to look at a poster.)
3. If they catch a "wild fish," their team takes one fish from the other team.
4. The team with the most fish wins.
To keep things moving, I had all of the fish stuck to a metal board, and the kids just came up and took one off instead of using a magnetic fishing pole to "catch" the fish.