These music games will encourage kids to learn and practice more about music.

Body Percussion

Children can use their body parts to make rhythmic sounds. This is such a fun and creative way for them to learn to recognise patterns and create new rhythms.

Here are some body percussions they can try,

• Clapping hands
• Snapping fingers
• Tapping palm with fingers
• Rubbing hands together
• Popping cheeks
• Patting thighs
• Stomping feet

Musical Chairs

This is a fun game to play while enjoying the music. You can set up this game for a group of children.

Place the chairs in a circle facing outward. The number of chairs should be less than the number of players (usually one less) Make sure there is enough space between each chair for the kids to move around easily.

Encourage kids to move around the chairs in different ways – skipping, hopping, or dancing to add some extra fun.

Start the music. All the kids should walk or dance around the chairs in a circle. 

Randomly stop the music at any point. When the music stops, the players must quickly find a chair to sit on. Since there is always one less chair than there are players, someone will be left without a chair.

The player who couldn’t find a chair is out of the game. Remove one chair from the circle, and restart the game.

DIY music instruments

Homemade Drum Set – Gather empty containers such as coffee cans, oatmeal canisters, or plastic buckets. Secure lids on both ends with duct tape to create drums of different sizes. Kids can use their hands or wooden spoons as drumsticks to play rhythms.

Shaker Eggs – Fill empty plastic Easter eggs or small containers with rice, beans, or lentils. Seal them shut with tape or glue to create shaker eggs. Kids can shake them along to music or create rhythms by tapping them against their hands.

Rubber Band Guitar – Stretch rubber bands of different sizes and thicknesses around a cardboard shoebox. Secure the rubber bands tightly with tape. Kids can pluck the rubber bands to produce different musical pitches, creating their own guitar.

DIY Xylophone – Arrange glasses or jars of varying sizes in a row. Fill each glass or jar with a different amount of water to produce different pitches. Kids can experiment with filling levels to create a simple xylophone and play tunes by tapping the glasses.

PVC Pipe Pan Flute – Cut PVC pipes into different lengths to create a pan flute. Arrange the pipes from longest to shortest and secure them together with duct tape or glue. Kids can blow across the top of the pipes to produce different notes and melodies.

Freeze Dance 

Follow The Beat

Creative way to use body percussions.

Create a beat using body percussions such as snapping, clapping or patting. Ask the children to focus and listen to the rhythm. Then, they have to repeat the beat correctly. 

Gradually build up the complexity of the beat.