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Picture this: Me, teaching online for the millionth time. My students, showing up to every few classes, sometimes coming or going halfway through. It’s March and we’re STILL working on la with second grade. As we have been for weeks. I needed something new, a new solfege board game, and Lucky Lemons was the solution.
I came up with it over Spring Break. I wanted to do a solfege board game where students practiced solfege in different ways (identifying, putting notes on the staff, etc.).
The first time we did it, the kids were obsessed!
Now that we’re back in the classroom, we are still using Lucky Lemons solfege board game, but in a slightly different way.
Today we’re going to talk about how we use both the digital and printable version of the game to practice solfege.
If you want to purchase Lucky Lemons, then you can click here. There are currently 2 versions, one for la and one for do. More are on their way!
Playing a Digital Solfege Board Game Whole Group
With most activities, I like to start whole group and then have students do it on their own. I often find that students are much more successful when they have the chance to learn the rules in a whole group manner.
So to play Lucky Lemons, the solfege board game, whole group, we start with the digital version.
I have the students get into groups (typically 4 because that’s how many different colors of game pieces there are). I put the solfege board game up on the projector, and I run the computer. (Soon I’ll have a touch screen and the kids will be able to come up and move things themselves…. exciting!)
Playing is pretty simple. Stay in edit mode (do NOT click present). Click on the video of the die to roll it. I typically have one person from the group tell me when to stop it. Then move their game piece that far. (Note: You could also roll normal dice or giant dice like these!)
After that, click on the circle the students landed on. It will take them to a challenge. This could be adding a note on the staff, adding all of the notes on the staff, identifying notes, etc. The group must work together to figure out the answer.
Once they have decided on an answer, you can click on “check answer” to see if they are correct. If so, they get a lemon!
Then it’s the next group’s turn.
Keep this up until someone gets to the end. Once someone gets to the end, the group with the most lemons wins!
Next step… In groups!
Now that students know how to play the game, they can do it in groups! They can do either the digital version or the printable version. I think the printable version is a bit easier to navigate, but whichever you choose, the directions are the same.
- Roll the die
- Move your piece
- Draw a card (or click on the circle underneath you)
- Collect the lemons!
A couple of helpful hints for the digital version:
- Students only need one device per group. Or you can have them share it with each other on Google but… one will be easier.
- It works better on a computer than on a tablet.
- If you are on a tablet, use the browser, NOT the slides app. Do NOT click present.
A couple of hints for the printable version:
- The printable version comes with game pieces, but it’s more fun if you use real ones. You can get them on Amazon by clicking here. Bingo chips work too.
- Use cardstock if possible and LAMINATE. If the paper is too thin, they can see through it.
- If you can’t use card stock, glue the game board to a piece of cardboard. For the cards, you can put them into a bowl instead of having them stacked.
Pair this with…..
I love to pair this with Agua de Limones or Lemonade, since they are both lemon themed songs! I use them to teach la.
You can check out both songs (complete with free downloadable sheet music) here.
I hope your kiddos love this game as much as mine do!
