What You Need:

• A turkey body, plus a lot of feathers
  • I cut mine out of scrapbooking paper so they were already in cute patterns.
  • If you want to be able to reuse it for multiple purposes, laminate everything. Otherwise, don’t bother.
• Flashcards with the notes of the staff.
• Some kind of timer (only needed for version 2)

Setup:

• Write on the back of the feathers. (Use a whiteboard marker if you laminated.)
  • About three should say “Teacher Loses a Turn”
  • About three should say “Freebie”
  • Half of the rest should say “N” for name the note.
  • All of the rest should say “P” for play the note.
• Lay out your turkey on the floor.

 

How to Play (Version 1, the competitive way):

• The first player plucks a feather from the turkey and draws a note flashcard.
  • If the feather says “N,” the player should name the note on the flashcard.
  • If it says “P,” the player should play the note on the piano.
  • If it says “Freebie,” they get the feather for free.
• Take turns until the turkey is completely plucked. Count the feathers to see who has the most.
  • The teacher loses a turn cards guarantee that the student will always have more. None of my kids picked up on this.

How to Play (Version 2, the timed way):

• With input from the student, determine how long the student will need to completely pluck the turkey. (The amount of time varied from 1 to 5 minutes, depending on the level of the student and the number of feathers on the turkey.)
• When the timer starts, the student plucks one feather at a time and plays or names the note. In this version, the teacher loses a turn feathers are just like a freebie feather.
  • (Occasionally, I surreptitiously stop the timer while they aren’t looking to make sure they finish in time.)