Music Note Name Jenga!

I have my grade 4 to 6 students do small group or independant work on days that I want to work with a small recorder group. Music Note Name Jenga has been our best hit yet! Even better than the amazing Staff Wars and Note Name Battleship! 

I have seen various ways to transform Jenga into a music game. I came across a great version over at COLOR IN MY PIANO. Joy uses many music symbols in her game. I wanted my students to focus solely on note names so I created a game that had treble clef notes only.

HOW TO PLAY
Students stack the blocks as you do in regular Jenga. Students take turns pulling blocks. Each time they pull, they must show their block to the group and name the note. If they get it wrong, that students must pull again. I made a rule that a player only needs to pull a maximum of two blocks, even if they make more than one mistake. The student who is responsible for the blocks toppling over loses. 
They LOVE it!

HOW TO MAKE IT

First of all I bought a cheaper version of Jenga (on sale at Target) for $5.00. I bought two. I then simply drew a treble clef note on each block... well it wasn't that simple. 

I thought I'd be honest and share photos of my marker testing process on the little wooden blocks. It's pretty funny actually.

Attempt #1:
 I used a regular tipped Sharpie for this one. Ew. Gross. I also spent 2 hours trying to make lines on these blocks perfect. I used Post-its to try and make straight lines. FAIL.

I didn't give up though! Attempt #2:
 WAY WORSE!!! Hahahah. This really made me laugh. I used a Uniball rollerball pen for this one. Finer lines, but it bled WAY more. And yes you're right, I didn't use the Post-it strategy. This should actually be on one of those Pinterest FAIL sites. 

I wanted to give up! But I believed in the activity and in the great game of Jenga.
Attempt #3:
Meh, it's not perfect, but it works for me! I used a fine point black Sharpie for my entire second game of blocks. No Post-its, the marker followed the wood grain quite easily to make a straight enough line.

Yay Jenga!
What games do you transform for the Music room?
Please share!

- Steph

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