Don’t Eat Pete! | Free Piano Teaching Game

Don’t eat Pete!  has got to be one of the best go-to games.  It is super fast to pull together, will work with about a million different subjects, and students love it.

Level: Beginner to Advanced

Objective: To review just about anything!

 

 

 

 

Materials:

• A white board (check this white board out  — I use my white board constantly), or any writing surface will do
• Small pieces of candy, fruit snacks, stickers, or erasers (or something else your students would enjoy)

Players needed: from one player to as many as you want

 

Game Set-up:

 

Divide up the white board into even squares.  I like to do anywhere from 9 – 16 squares.  Write in whatever musical concepts you would like to review into the boxes.  It could be musical terms, rhythms you want them to clap out, dynamics, articulations, or whatever it is you want to review.

Place little treats in each square.  The teacher, or a student, chooses one square that will be “Pete” and keeps that a secret from the person who is it.

 

Game Play: 

 

Each student takes turn choosing squares.  They must identify, define, or clap out the rhythm that is in the square before they can take the treat and eat it.  If they can’t identify what is in the square, the treat stays there and they must choose another square.

If the student chooses “Pete” then the teacher (and whoever else knows) yells out, “Don’t Eat Pete!”  That person’s turn is over.

The awesome thing about this is that you can use the same squares, or switch them up and put in new concepts and continue playing.  This is a super versatile game, so play it how it works best for you!

This is also a good time to assess areas that you need to work on or review a little more in depth.  It’s a quick assessment tool and I always keep notes of those things we should spend time on later.

 

Click here for more really fun games and activities for teaching piano!