Back to School Game for Music Class: Musical Chairs

Picture this: it’s back to school and the first day of music class. The day starts smoothly enough. The younger students are wiggly, enthusiastic, and excited to play all the games you’ve planned for music class. But when your older students walk in? Some are already searching for the exit!

If you’re looking for an engaging game for music class that sparks real excitement in your older students, you are going to love this easy back-to-school twist on musical chairs!

Musical chairs? The kids party game?

You might be rolling your eyes, but you’d be surprised by how unreasonably excited your older students are to play a silly game of musical chairs. More importantly, you’ll be amazed by just how much pre-assessment data this simple game can provide. So, what makes this game amazing? Let’s talk about it!

Why Older Students Love Musical Chairs

I wish I could explain why this weird phenomenon happens with my older students, but it’s something I’ve noticed time and time again. I can plan a music activity that’s fun, age-appropriate, and educationally sound—but that’s never what my fifth and sixth graders actually want to do.

What do they want instead?

They want to sing the silly songs they learned way back in kindergarten, or play that music game they remember from first grade. It’s the oddest thing, but it happens every year. I think it’s nostalgia kicking in. There must be something comforting about the familiarity of games from childhood, especially during that back-to-school transition.

Musical chairs is one of those classic games that just about every kid knows. Add a little friendly competition, and suddenly your too-cool-for-school sixth graders are sprinting for their chairs like it’s the Olympics. You may have to lay down a few ground rules for safety, but the fun is well worth it.

Why This Game is so Effective for Back-to-School

When I created this game for music class, I decided to put the music back into musical chairs—and turn it into something truly music ed worthy.

While the standard rules of musical chairs are pretty straightforward, this new version adds a clever twist: Challenge Cards.

These printable cards introduce an element of pre-assessment that offers you, the music teacher, valuable insight into your students’ current skill levels, without making it feel like a test.

By the time this game ends, you’ll already have a strong sense of:

Which of your students have access to higher-level musical thinking
Which students will need the extra support during the year
Who can easily recall music terms and notation
Who can apply and create, using their music knowledge
Who’s comfortable analyzing music
Who can demonstrate musical knowledge through performance

This information is super helpful if you’re starting in a new school, or with a new group of students; it offers a clear takeaway of what your students can do, so you can evaluate abilities and pace instruction appropriately.

You may be wondering what kinds of questions are included on the cards. Some questions are straightforward, like “What instrument family is the trumpet in?” Others are more involved, like “Compose and perform a four-beat rhythm by counting and clapping.” You can view a full preview of this resource and its sample questions here.

The range in difficulty is intentional so you can get an accurate picture of what your students are capable of. Plus, I aligned all questions with the National Core Arts Standards. Many are also inspired by Bloom’s Taxonomy. Students will be expected to understand, apply knowledge, analyze, or create, depending on the question!

This is why this game is so effective at the beginning of the school year. It helps you determine what it is that your music students already know. You’ll be getting a better idea of where they feel confident, and where they may need more support. You’ll gather real information while students stay focused, and fully engaged—all without your students ever realizing they’re being assessed.

Before you jump in and start playing, there are a few short steps to get everything ready for students. Let’s discuss how you’ll prep this music class resource for back-to-school season!

What’s Included in this Music Class Game

Printable Black & White Resource PDF
Printable Color Resource PDF
40 Printable Challenge Cards
24 Stay-In Bonus Cards
16 Blank Customizable Cards
Directions for How to Play

Prepping this Music Class Resource for Back to School

I am not a fan of teaching resources that take a long time to prep. Let’s face it, we’re all limited on time, so the fewer steps the better. That’s why I’m excited to share that this resource is print, cut, and go! Realistically, it may take about thirty minutes to print and cut everything, although it’s much faster with a paper cutter. You may want additional time if you plan to laminate the cards. It’s an additional step, but it makes it easy to save and reuse this game school year after school year.

Printing Instructions

The cards included in this musical chairs game can be printed in color or black and white. You can print them single-sided on plain copy paper or double-sided on a thicker paper like cardstock.

Single-Sided Musical Chairs Cards

There are specific pages in the resource necessary to print single-sided. Details on how to do this are provided in the resource.

Doubled-Sided Musical Chairs Cards

Print this resource top to head. If you’re in doubt, you can bring it to a print shop like Staples and ensure it’s printed properly and correctly aligned (this is what I do). I recommend printing double-sided on cardstock so there’s no bleed.

Prepping this Resource for Music Class

You’ll need to cut out this resource after printing it, but this is a lot faster with a papercutter (this is the one I own and use). There are 64 cards within the resource and the cutting can likely be accomplished within a prep period. You may consider laminating them so that you can reuse this game. I use this personal laminator because I find it a lot faster than the laminators in the school buildings. I highly recommend it if you do a lot of laminating. The laminator includes 20 laminator sheets, but you can also find additional compatible laminator sheets here.

Cut out the Challenge and Stay-In Bonus Cards
Optional: Write custom questions for your students on the included blank cards
Optional: Laminate if desired
Sort into two decks: Challenge Cards + Stay-In Bonus Cards

How To Play This Version of Musical Chairs

To set up for this back-to-school game, you’ll want to set up chairs for your students in a circle formation. As is traditional with musical chairs, you’ll leave one additional chair absent each round. Then, play the music of your choice and stop at the desired moment (the more suspenseful the better!) After a bit of scrambling and chaos, one student will be left standing. The standing student may choose to be out or challenge a classmate for their chair.

If a student decides to challenge a classmate for their seat, the challenged student will draw a Challenge Card and attempt to answer the question. If the student answers the challenge question correctly, they get to stay in the same place. If a student answers incorrectly, they have a second chance to stay in the game by drawing a Stay-In bonus card. This system means that some rounds may result in all students being safe or even double eliminations!

The winner or winners are up to you, and you can play as many rounds as you like!

Choosing Music for Playing Musical Chairs

Your choice of music can also make a big difference in the gameplay experience. Here are a few of my favorite music selections to use when playing musical chairs:

Video game and movie themes seem to generate the most excitement, but I try to build a playlist with lots of variety so students never know what’s coming next. It helps keep things high-paced and exciting.

Enjoy Playing Back to School Musical Chairs!

Lastly, enjoy this resource! If your students love gamified learning, I promise this resource will be a wonderful way to welcome your older students back to music class. If you’re looking for additional back-to-school resources, I recommend checking out my Back to School Song Boards and 15 Back to School Finds for General Music Teachers. Looking for freebies? The Chamber of Freebies is open to join all year long!

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