This is a very simple game that helps younger students to learn about differences in pitch and the movement from one pitch to another. Explain to your students that pitches can move up, down or stay the same. Play some examples for them on a melodic instrument such as a piano or a xylophone. Have all of the students stand up. Instruct them to point up if they hear an upward movement from one pitch to another, point down if they hear a downward movement, and hold their hand out flat if the pitches stayed the same. After you play each pair of notes, give the students a few moments to show what they heard. Have the students who answered correctly remain standing and the ones who answered incorrectly sit down. Continue until you have one student left as the winner of the game. To play a more advanced version of the game, you can also have the students indicate with some physical sign whether the pitches moved up or down by step or by a leap.
This game is patterned after the old television show in which contestants tried to identify songs based on a brief sequence of pitches. Explain to your students that songs are made out of patterns of pitches, which are otherwise known as a "melody." Divide your class into two teams. Decide which team will go first and play two pitches of a familiar song for that team. Allow the team to guess the song. If they cannot guess correctly, play the same two pitches for the other team and allow them to guess. If the second team doesn't guess correctly, it's the first team's turn again. This time, add one more pitch to the sequence and allow them to guess. Continue this process of adding pitches slowly until one team guesses the song correctly and earns a point. Play until one team reaches a certain score, or a particular time period is up. Make sure you use songs that are familiar to most of the students.
This game helps students to learn the names of different pitches based on their locations on a music staff. Create a music staff by taping five lines of masking tape to the floor. Use small sections of the tape to create a treble or bass clef symbol, depending on which type of staff you're focusing on. Divide your class into two teams. Select two players from one team to come forward. One will be the "tosser," and one will be the "namer." Give the tosser a small bean bag and have him toss the bag onto the staff. The namer must then name the pitch position on which the bean bag fell. For instance, if the tosser threw the bag onto the top line on a treble clef staff, the correct pitch would be "F." If the namer gets the pitch correct, the team earns a point. If the namer gets the pitch incorrect, the other team has a chance to name the pitch for a point. Play alternates between teams until every student has had a chance to be the namer, the tosser or both.