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I love using games and centers in my elementary music classroom, and using games IN centers is a recipe for engaging your students. But sometimes it can be hard to teach new activities for centers, so one of my best teaching hacks is to use games that students have played before. This could be games we’ve used in my class, in other classes, or games that are similar to games they’ve played outside of school– like the card game War! Today we’re going to be talking about using Music War card game for elementary music class.
When I was a kid, smart phones weren’t around, and we loved to play card games. War was always a favorite– it was super simple to understand, but it got really exciting.
I’ll share how to play this game the music way– with rhythm, notes on the staff, or dynamics.
This game is typically played in partners (which makes it great for teaching piano lessons!), but it can be played with up to 4 people in a group. More than 5 people will be difficult, because students will find that they keep getting the same answers.
You can make card sets these yourself, or you can save A LOT of time by purchasing ready to print sets from my TPT shop, Becca’s Music Room.
Need more music centers activities?
It’s completely free and has pages and pages of ideas for activities that you can use with general music centers– plus, it’s organized by topics including rhythm, treble clef, composition, instruments, and more.
Click here to get instant access free!
Rhythm War Card Game
First off, let’s play Rhythm War card game for elementary music centers! I use this one the most, because I spend A LOT of time in 3-5 grade talking about beats per measure, time signatures, and rhythm, so I’m always looking for fun ways to learn about this.
To start, split students into groups. War is typically played with 2 people, but you could play with 3-4. More than 5 will start to get difficult, because you’ll have too many people who get ties at a time.
Here’s how to play Rhythm War Card Game:
- Split the class into groups.
- Split the deck of cards even between the members of the group. They hold their cards in a stack facing down.
- Everyone flips over the top card at the same time.
- The longest rhythm wins– that person takes all the cards in the center and adds them to the bottom of their deck.
- The game continues until one person has all of the cards.
You can play this with one rhythm in one a card (level 1), or with multiple rhythms on a card that they have to add together (level 1).
*Highly recommend printing on card stock so they can’t see through the paper!
Staff War Card Game
To play with treble clef, bass clef, or both (depending on what you’re teaching!), the game is the same, but now we’re looking at the highest note on the staff winning.
PS This is a fun one to incorporate into May the Fourth– Star Wars Day!
Here’s how to play Staff War Card Game:
- Split the class into groups.
- Split the deck of cards even between the members of the group. They hold their cards in a stack facing down.
- Everyone flips over the top card at the same time.
- The highest note wins– that person takes all the cards in the center and adds them to the bottom of their deck.
- The game continues until one person has all of the cards.
This game would be great for teaching piano lessons, because it can easily be done with two people (teacher versus student).
Use for treble clef or bass clef– or you can combine the decks and use both!
Dynamics War Card Game
One more way to play Music War Card Game is to play with dynamics– the loudest dynamic wins!
Here’s how to play Dynamics War Card Game:
- Split the class into groups.
- Split the deck of cards even between the members of the group. They hold their cards in a stack facing down.
- Everyone flips over the top card at the same time.
- The loudest dynamic wins– that person takes all the cards in the center and adds them to the bottom of their deck.
- The game continues until one person has all of the cards.
Your students will have so much fun playing Music War! Use for centers, small groups, sub plans, or even teaching in the teachers’ classrooms.
Click here to save some time and get ready to go sets you can print, laminate, and play!
Need more lessons? Check out my favorite rhythm centers here!
And your students will love Shark Attack! (another rhythm card game)
Happy teaching!
Becca
