Looking for a fun game to play with a group of students that will also help them work on note identification? Try having a spelling bee! Here’s how it works:

1. Divide the students into two or more groups.
2. Give each group a set of flashcards with notes on the staff (make sure the answer isn’t on the back! Click on these links for a perfectly suited set you can print and use: Page One, Page Two, Page Three. These are a wonderful creation designed by Flo of Pianimals.)
3. Directions to students: when a word is called from the list, they must arrange the flashcards in the correct order to spell the word and stand facing you so that you can “read” the word from left to right. Once they are arranged in the correct order, they must ding a bell or give some other signal to indicate that they are done.
4. Call out one of the words. (Below is a list of words that can be spelled using only the letters in the musical alphabet.)
5. Each team that arranges the notes correctly gets one point. The team to spell the word first gets one additional point. The team with the most points at the end wins!
6. Have fun!

Musical Alphabet Words
(click here to download a printable version of this list.)

A

ace

adage

age

aged

B

babe

bad

bade

badge

bag

baggage

bead

bed

bee

beef

beg

C

cab

cabbage

cad

cafe

cage

D

dab

dabbed

dad

dead

deaf

decade

E

edge

egg

F

façade

face

fad

fade

fed

feed

G

gab

gag

gage