Are you intimidated by the circle of fifths and wish there was a way to easily teach the circle of fifths?
Do you break out in hives just thinking about the circle with sharps and flats?
For most of my teen years, I was aware of the circle of fifths, but to me it was something complex and hard to wrap my mind around.
I assumed it was hard to understand.
It wasn’t until I intentionally began studying music theory that the circle of fifths made sense.
And once I understood the circle of fifths, I loved it.
That’s what I want for my students. I want them to understand and love the circle of fifths.
Because of this, I helped design a way to easily teach the circle of fifths to your students: Froggy Fifths.
What is Froggy Fifths Circle of Fifths Music Theory Game?
Froggy Fifths will familiarize your students with the entire circle of fifths so they are comfortable with it and not intimidated by it.
Each student will choose a frog and hop their way to collect different key signatures with the roll of a die.
But there can be some stiff competition–because if your opponent lands on a log, they just might steal one of the tokens you’ve worked hard to collect!
Froggy Fifths is currently Music Game Club’s largest game. It also spans the most levels. There are four levels of cards that you can use from very beginning students all the way to college students.
Here’s a look inside Froggy Fifths:
- Formatted for letter size and A4 printing
- A 2-page game board with the entire circle of fifths
- An 18 x 24” game board (for group games)
- 4 levels of key signature cards
- 12 cards per level (48 cards total)
- 8 frog playing pieces
- Lily pad tokens
- “I’ve Hopped My Way to the Top!” success poster
- Mnemonics & key signature activity sheet
One of the best features about Froggy Fifths is the four level cards.
Level 1 – Accidentals on Piano Keys
Beginning students can count how many sharps or flats they see on the piano keys and match it to the number of sharps or flats they need to find on the board.
Level 2 – Accidentals on the Staff
Teach the student how to count sharps or flats on the grand staff (be sure they count the staves together; e.g. F#-C# in both the bass and treble clefs are just two sharps, not four).
Students can match the number of accidentals they see on the staff to the number of accidentals on the board.
Level 3 – Major Key Signatures
Students must know how many accidentals are in the given key signatures.
Level 4 – Minor Key Signatures
Students must know how many accidentals are in the given key signatures.
These four levels of cards mean two things.
1) Your students can easily “level up” as they learn more music theory. Each level has the same key signatures per card (e.g. Card One has G, G-flat, E, C or E minor, E-flat minor, C-sharp minor, and A minor). So if your student needs to graduate from one level to the next, you can give them Cards 1 of Levels 1 and 2 (or 2 and 3, 3 and 4) so they can compare.
2) You can easily play with multi-level students. Just assign each student the appropriate level card and they can play together.
Froggy Fifths SOLFÈGE Circle of Fifths Music Game
Our international friends can enjoy playing Froggy Fifths in their music studios with our updated Solfège keys (Do major, do minor, etc.).
>>> Get Froggy Fifths SOLFÈGE Circle of Fifths Music Game
How to Play Froggy Fifths Circle of Fifths Music Theory Game
Easily teach the circle of fifths by playing Froggy Fifths in your music studio.
Players will choose a frog and a card then take turns rolling a die to travel around the board.
When a player lands on a key signature that’s on their card, they can claim it with a token.
The first player to claim all four key signatures wins!
Watch our video tutorial to see how easy it is to set up and play!
Don’t see the video above? Watch How to Play Froggy Fifths on YouTube.
How to Play Froggy Fifths Circle of Fifths Music Theory Game for Group Music Lessons
Froggy Fifths is easy to play with two students or eight.
You will automatically get a bonus 18 x 24” formatted page to bring to a printshop and print a large game board so your students can easily crowd around and play together.
As mentioned earlier, you can play Froggy Fifths with either the same level students or multi-level students.
Because each student is hopping to collect their individual tokens, you can assign them the card suitable for their level.
If you have limited playing time, each student only has to find half of their card.
Froggy Fifths Music Theory Game Success Poster
We believe that celebrating with a success poster will build student rapport!
The students have a goal to work toward (taking a picture with the success poster) and you can send the picture to the parents as a way to showcase what their child has achieved during lessons.
It’s a win-win!
These also give you great material for social media posts (be sure to tag @musicgameclub so we can celebrate with your kiddos!).
Froggy Fifths Circle of Fifths Music Theory Game Activity Sheet
Once the student has completed the Froggy Fifths music theory game, you can further help them solidify their music theory knowledge with the activity sheet.
For Froggy Fifths, the students will create their own mnemonic phrase for the order of sharps and flats and then copy accidentals onto blank staves.
This will help familiarize students with both the order of sharps and flats and give them practice writing them neatly.
Behind the Scenes of Froggy Fifths Circle of Fifths Music Theory Game
We are proud of the artwork by Kristen McHenry and Emily Darrel.
We fell in love with all the little froggies as soon as we saw them!
So here are some “behind the scenes” development pictures!
Want Froggy Fifths?
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When you sign up for Music Game Club membership program, you’ll always receive:
- A monthly music game (formatted for 8.5” x 11” and A4 printing)
- An exclusive Music Game Club membership group
- Video tutorials
- Themed success posters to go with the monthly game
- Bonus activity review sheet
The membership is only $15/month and you did read all of the above correctly.
You get so much that will help you boost student morale and make you a favorite music teacher this year.
You won’t lose the momentum and excitement all year!
Your students will start anticipating the first of every month to see what new game you will thrill them with!
>>> Sign up for Music Game Club Membership here
Comment and share!
How did you learn the circle of fifths?
Do you know a way to easily teach the circle of fifths to students?
Let us know in the comments below.
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