Create a small music staff for each student by cutting pieces of electrical tape and sticking them on plastic plates. There should be 5 parallel lines on each plate. Give a plate, a dry-erase marker and a small rag to each student. Tell the students that when you shout out a note name, they must draw it on the plate with their markers and then hold their plate in the air. The first child to get her plate in the air with the correct note wins. That child can announce the next note to draw.
Have students sit in a circle on the floor, and choose one student to be "it." The person who is "it" stands behind one of the students in the circle. Show "it" and the student in front of him a treble clef flash card. If "it" calls out the correct note first, he moves to stand behind the next person in the circle. If the sitting student calls out the correct note first, she becomes "it" and stands behind the next person in the circle. The goal is to get all the way around the circle without losing "it" status.
Fast-paced and colorful online games encourage students to speed up their response time when they see notes. Many online games show the students a note and ask them to type or click on the correct name for the note. Speedy recall of notes helps students to sight read music, so these online games can prove very useful. Music teachers can keep a computer set up in their waiting rooms so students can practice their sight reading skills while they wait for their lessons to begin.
This game works well for piano students because it helps them to identify the notes on a keyboard. Line up two figures at one end of the keyboard. The figures could be two different colored buttons, miniature cards, or anything else you like. Have a stack of cards with the names of the notes on them. The first player draws a card and moves his marker to that key on the keyboard. The next player then draws a card and places her marker on the matching key on the keyboard. The game continues until one of the markers makes it to the opposite end of the keyboard.