Musical Treasure Hunt

One of the activities we did towards the end of Christmas camp on the last day was a musical treasure hunt.

My intention for this hunt was to have them find the gifts I made them in the end. That is how it worked out for Monday’s group. But then Tuesdays group came and it took a different turn. A turn that I wish I would have thought about before. But because it worked so well, I did it for the other groups following. The last clue leads to the answer “piano”. The original plan was for them to find the pirate bear gift behind my drum under the piano. But on Tuesday, right after they figured out the last clue was piano, they all started getting out their Christmas music they were going to play for each other thinking that was the “treasure”. Now why didn’t I think of that?! It was too good so I went along with it and did it for Wednesdays and Thursdays group as well and then gave them their gifts afterwards before they left to go home.

For the musical treasure hunt, I had flashcards and items hidden (not too hard) around the room. They had to answer the clue first and then go find the flashcard or item.

 

Christmas Camp- Week 2 in Review

This was our last week of Christmas camp. I thought I would share what we did this week.

First we started off with an interval game called Voyage of the Intervals. I separated the kids into 3 groups and they worked together as a team.

Afterwards we played “Pieces of Eight” a customizable powerpoint trivia game that I bought from a teacher from TeachersPayTeachers website. I made it a “music” style trivia game and created the categories: Notes, Rhythm, Dynamics, Articulations, Technique and Christmas. In this game occasionally a bonus round will pop up. Bonus rounds allows a team to receive a bonus point if they are first to answer correctly. Sometimes the bonus rounds are doing something silly such as this… (Can you figure out what they are doing?)

After our trivia game, we took a refreshment break. Students brought in goodies to share…

After we had some goodies it was time for a Musical Treasure Hunt! This was one of my favorite activities at camp. I created a powerpoint of all the clues but also had clue cards along with what they were supposed to find hiding around the room. In a separate post I will post more details and share the powerpoint that I made. In the meantime, enjoy the pictures of the hunting…

Our musical treasure hunt led us to the piano where students performed their Christmas pieces for each other to close out our Christmas camp.

Then before they left until I see them again in 2013, I gave them their Christmas gift from me. Here’s a sneak peak. (More details coming in a separate post…)

Christmas Camp begins!

Every year in December I hold Christmas camp. Christmas camp replaces regular lessons in December and is something the students and I look forward to each year. Feel free to check out my Nutcracker Christmas Camp in the FPS Store.

This year I wanted to do something with our Hidden Treasures Pirate theme in mind but also have some Christmas themed games thrown in as well. So this week we will be composing a Sea Chanty, playing Wendy Stevens, “Stinky Sox” game using a Christmas stocking and of course Christmas music, decorate some mini canvas bags (more on this later), learn some pirate Christmas songs and if time play Christmas scramble, a fun app on the iPad. I always plan for more than we have time for so if for some reason we still have some extra time, we will play some of the Hidden Treasures games Jeana Beasley created.

I will share pictures from this week and plans for next week soon!

 

 

More Music Apps…

I’ve discovered a few more music apps that I’m enjoying and wanted to share descriptions in case anyone was interested…

 

My First Classical Music App by Naxos- This is an interactive iPad app where you hear music and discover who writes it, about the instruments, etc…  It has narrated text, animation and sound effects.  It includes a full album of music of- Peer Gynt, Magic Flute, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Carnival of the Animals, Holst’s Planets, Petrushka, Peter and the Wolf and more.

Glossary of Music- this is a great music dictionary compatible with iPhone, iPod touch and iPad.

PianoMeter (Michael Coon)- This is another practice note drill app for the iPad.  but what I like about it is the student is drilling their notes to a steady metronome beat.

Musical Flash Cards (Kids Place)- This is just a fun app that has pictures of music instruments with their sounds and the instrument name.  Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch and iPad

The Carnival of the Animals (cstools GmbH)- At Christmas camp we learned about Carnival of the Animals so I downloaded this interactive iPad app to use.  I ended up using it with my younger students and they absolutely loved it!

Spin the bottle HD- Just a fun spin the bottle app that I will occasionally use in group lessons or camp settings.  You can set it from as low as 2 players up to 30 players.  You even use it as a number generator if you wanted (up to 30).

 

Well that’s it for now.  I’ll be sure to share more as I find them!  Enjoy!