Connect 4 - Beginning Band Games - Finish Strong - Motivate until the last day of school

More beginning band games? Yes, please!

If you don’t have a Connect 4 game, ask the kids to bring one. I bet one of them has one at home. An alternate option is to play tic-tac-toe on the front board.

Start this game right at the beginning of class to be sure you have time to finish. The winner is the 1st to get 4 in a row OR if you don’t have time to finish or no one gets 4 in a row, the team with the most disks at the end wins.

Divide into 2 teams – Red/Black. Appoint or let the kids choose a team captain. Place the captain in the chairs close to the game board. The team can help the captain, but only the captain can actually drop in the disk.

As soon as teams are chosen, start your regular class routine. Go back and forth having them do things such as the ones listed below.

Count 4 measures of a rhythm page
Play 4 measures of a rhythm page on concert F
Play 1st line of warm-up
Play a scale
Play 2 measures of the chromatic scale
Count a line in the book
Note name a line in the book
Play a line in the book
Show you their supplies (pencil, books, reeds etc.)
Answer theory questions

If a team is not paying attention or has bad behavior, they forfeit their turn to earn a disk. This is a BIG deal because it keeps them from being able to block.

At the end of class, announce a winner!

This is the second post in our series called “Finish Strong! Motivate until the last day of school.” Read last week’s post here – Band Dice Games. These beginning band games were made up with beginners in mind (obviously), but can be used with any class. Changing things up a little the last couple months can keep kids motivated and help greatly with discipline. For more in depth explanations of using games to help with discipline, read this post: Beginning Band Jeopardy.

Looking for more fun games to end the year strong? Check out this preview video for a Level 1 Games BUNDLE! Works for any class size! There are 9 games with multiple levels within games for a total of 20+ versions.