Experience these twelve piano games for kids as a fun way to learn piano and music theory
Even the most incredible pianist will tell you that mastering basic piano skills is the key to becoming a better piano player. The best way to do it? Practice! At Hoffman Academy, we love to make practice fun, so we’ve put together a list of some of our favorite piano games for practicing.
Practice Safari
Practice Safari is a great piano board game for motivating kids to practice tricky sections in their piece. Choose a small section in the music, only 2-3 measures, and have the student roll a 6-sided dice. The number they land on will determine how they practice the section. For example, if the student lands on 6, they need to play the notes correctly while singing the rhythm. If they land on 2, ask them to play the section with their eyes closed. Once they play the section correctly, they move their piece along the board. Once they have practiced a section 3 times, choose another part of their piece to work on. The goal is to get to the end of the board game!
Matching Games
We have a host of matching games that students enjoy playing! Match the Mittens is perfect for students who are learning the names of white keys. The game reinforces the musical alphabet and where to find notes on the piano. Matching Rocketships, Pineapple Matching and Candy Corn Matching will help students learn where to find notes on the staff and keyboard. For students learning about key signatures, Matching Witch Hats challenges students to match the correct time signature to the correct name of the key. Check out our other matching games like Build the Snowman Chord, Pentascale Matching, and Pumpkin Chord Pie!
Musical Bingo
Musical Bingo is a fun game for 2-7 players and teaches students how to identify music symbols. Players are given a bingo card full of symbols like a sharp, rest, repeat sign, time signature, and more. The caller pulls out symbols from a cup and calls out the name of the symbol they drew. The first person to complete a row or column calls out “Bingo!” and they win! This game reinforces the symbols learned during lessons and can even introduce new symbols to students.
Pumpkin Rhythm Game
Students love the Pumpkin Rhythm Game. It’s simple to play, and it’s free! The prep is simple. All you’ll need to do is cut out the rhythms and mouths of the jack-o-lanterns. To play this game, place two rhythms in the eyes of the pumpkin and ask the students to add the rhythms together. Once they add the rhythms, have them choose the correct mouth for the pumpkin and it completes the jack-o-lantern! This game is a fun way to reinforce note values and names of rhythms.
Alphabet Ball Piano Game
Another one of our favorite piano games for kids is Musical Alphabet Ball. This piano game can be played with 2 or more players. Players sit on the floor either face-to-face (2 players) or in a circle (3+ players) with enough space between them to roll a ball. Players take a small ball and roll the ball to their partner, or to anyone in the circle, saying any letter in the musical alphabet. The next person says the next letter, rolling the ball either back to their partner or to someone else in the circle. Continue rolling and saying each letter, stepping up, in the musical alphabet. Then try stepping down, skipping up, and skipping down. This piano lesson game is a fun and challenging way of learning the musical alphabet.
Earn Your Age
Looking for more fun piano learning games? Earn Your Age is a really fun piano playing game if you need to work on note accuracy and you’re motivated by cash (or snack!) prizes. First, pick a short section of a song to work on. We suggest about one line of music. Next, gather a pile of pennies, candies, dried beans (don’t eat those!), or other small objects. Play the piece of music. If you play the notes correctly with no mistakes, you win a penny! If you mess up even a single note, you lose a penny. Play the section over and over until you collect as many pennies as your age. When you do, you win!
Frog and Snake
Frog and Snake is a great piano keyboard game for beginners who are still learning the names of the white keys. Plus, this game always brings lots of laughs, excitement and is a good way to release energy with students who struggle to sit still! The student is the “frog” and the teacher is the “snake.” The teacher or student will choose only one letter of the musical alphabet to hop on from the bottom to the top of the piano. For example, if the note is D, the student must start on the lowest D on the piano and hop on all D’s to the top of the piano. Once the frog reaches the highest D on the piano, the snake starts chasing the frog down the piano! The goal is for the student to play all descending D’s correctly on the piano and reach the last D before the snake catches them!
This game was created by Tim Topham at TopMusicCo. For a more detailed explanation of this game, check out his video for how to play Frog and Snake.
Toy is Watching
Are you interested in piano games for kids that make piano practice time more fun? Grab a partner and play “Toy is Watching.” For this game, choose a piano skill to focus on. For example, you could choose playing with a steady tempo, playing with fingers curved, or playing while sitting up straight at the piano. Find a stuffed animal or action figure. As the piano student plays, their partner holds the toy where they can see that the toy is watching and dancing along to their music as they play. So long as the piano student is correctly doing whatever skill they’re focusing on, the toy will keep watching and dancing along to the music. If the piano student isn’t doing it correctly, the toy looks away. The goal is to keep the toy watching for the whole song. Teachers, if you’re looking for piano lesson games, this is a great one because it reinforces what you want your student to be working on in a fun and positive way.
Are there video games that teach piano?
Yes! We have a whole library of musical video games that help students learn rhythm, note values, and sightreading. To access our video games, sign up for Premium here!
Alphabet Towers
Musical notes have their own alphabet, and understanding that alphabet is a crucial skill for all music students. It can take time to master this special alphabet because it should be memorized forwards and backwards, in steps and in skips! Alphabet Towers is one fun way to practice the musical alphabet in order, starting on any letter. It’s the only online note reading piano game available that we know of that focuses on this fundamental music skill. The game begins with practicing the musical alphabet in steps. Higher levels of the game challenge you to arrange the musical alphabet backwards and in skips.
Mystery Melodies
Even beginning students can learn music by ear, and there are many piano learning games out there that support ear training. Mystery Melodies is one of the piano games that does exactly that. You’ll hear a short musical phrase and then pick which of four written melodies was the one you just heard. It trains you to visually track notes on a staff and to recognize the way the shape of a written melodic line matches the sound. This is a great way to develop both ear training and identifying melody.
Staff Crawler
When you’re sight reading a song you don’t have time to stop and think, “I wonder what note that is.” Get ready for fluent sight reading by playing Staff Crawler. You’ll click notes on a keyboard displayed on your screen to match notes written on a staff. Starting with a simple one-line staff, this piano game helps you learn to read notes by identifying steps, skips, and repeats. Then, when you’re ready, you’ll move on to reading the full staff. This is a perfect piano notes game for beginners!
Rhythm Shredder
Need help practicing rhythm? Rhythm Shredder is an online rhythm game all about precision and accuracy. Each level focuses on specific rhythms. In Level 1 Moderato, students practice quarter notes and rests. You will first hear a rhythm and then tap it out on beat. If you can accurately tap all rhythms in the first level, you move on to the final level, Andante. In Andante students practice eighth notes, quarter notes and rests. This game helps students learn how to keep a steady beat!
Piano Games for Music Mastery
Forget boring memorization and endless drilling. Music games are the best way to help make learning fun (total bonus: they also help avoid frustration and burn-out). Try the music and piano games we’ve highlighted above, or get creative and dream up your own piano games for kids. The music and piano games listed above are ideal for beginning students and kids, but are also helpful for anyone interested in practicing their musical skills.