One of my best falling-apart resource books is A Galaxy of Games for the Music Class by Margaret Athey and Gwen Hotchkiss. One of the best games that my kinders and first graders absolutely love is "Instruments Around the Room". It's not what you think. They don't play Hide-and-Seek with the instruments! It's a circle game that's great for rhythm instrument exploration, teaching respect of the instrument, listening skills, direction-following, and improvisation.

Here's my own little twist on the game (and yes, you need steady nerves on the day you do this!):

Have your class sit in a circle and go over the rules of the game and the rules of instrument respect.(Because they're kids, you want to make sure you go over rules before giving them instruments. Since you're adults, I'll go over the rules with you later:-) Then, randomly pass out rhythm instruments. As I do it, I continue a chant "Instruments on the floor and hands off. If you abuse it, you lose it.", and follow through! If a student plays on an instrument before he or she is supposed to, it should be GONE. It's then up to you whether or not you want to give it back later.

Before you start the game, it's advisable to let the kids play on the instrument given to them, because they may not get that instrument back, the way the game is played. I allow about 10 seconds, saying "While I'm counting to 10, play your instrument." When I say "10", I give a cut-off signal. That usually works well.

The rules of the game (and they are STRICT rules):

• The students are standing next to an instrument. Play a I-IV-V chord progression. That's the signal to march around the instruments in a circle (of course, designate the direction physically by walking it yourself. Kids this age, for the most part, don't have any concept of left-right yet, and they certainly don't understand clockwise/counterclockwise. If you don't designate the direction, they'll crash into each other).
• When you stop the progression, they stop, but they do NOT pick up an instrument.
• When you say "Pick up", they pick up the instrument they "land" next to, but DO NOT PLAY!
• They only begin playing when they hear you start to play a song (and these kids are pretty good about distinguishing a "real" song from a chord progression)
• When the music stops, they stop, but they do not put down!
• They put down only when you say "Put Down", but do not start moving until you start the chord progression again.
• If anyone: Picks up before they're supposed to, plays before they're supposed to, puts down before they're supposed to, etc., they're out of the game!

Now, the first time you play this, you might end up with half your class out, because, let's face it, 5-7 year olds aren't all that used to listening! I often let them have a second chance, however, after about1 15 minutes out. I also trick them once they start getting good at the game (telling them "Put down", "Pick up", "Put down" "Pick up", or starting and stopping a song over and over, etc. Your call on that!)

If the students do not end up right next to an instrument (and chances are, this is going to happen), to prevent tears and frustration, tell that student to wait until everyone else has picked up an instrument, then they are allowed to walk over to whatever instruments are left over. As you eliminate people, you don't take instruments out.

This game is usually pretty good for twenty minutes or so. Like with any other primary activity, you don't want to make it your ENTIRE class time (unless, of course, you only have twenty minutes!)

At the end, I give them another 10 seconds to play to get it out of their system, then I call on students by name to select an instrument to put away, or I call all students to put away instruments by category (membranes/skins, shakers, woods, metals). That's another good practice for them in identifying categories and families of instruments.

This is actually a good project for a substitute, too, as long as the sub is pretty good at controlling things. You can have the sub substitute a beat for the chord progression and use a CD if he or she doesn't play piano. But, I would use it as an activity for a sub only if you know the sub and can trust him or her, because there's too much chance of broken instruments, really loud, rambunctious behavior, and general stress all around if the environment isn't controlled.

I love using this game on Fridays when it's sort of my loosey-goosey day (but that works with my schedule, where we have Monday-Wednesday days and Tuesday-Thursday days, then on Fridays it alternates.) It's a lot of fun, and a terrific way to develop intricate listening skills and patience in the little ones.

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