Posted on May 17, 2008 by Abigail McHugh in - Group Class Games/Activities
My group class students were having a great deal of trouble resisting the urge to pluck and make noise while I was talking. They were not purposefully trying to be obnoxious, but rather were just unaware of what they were doing. My mother came up with this idea, which has brought their attention to the plucking problem and cured them (at least for now) of their nasty habits.
Each student has a plastic Ziploc bag with his/her name on it, to which I add 5 rotini noodles at the beginning of each class. Each time that the student plucks or plays out of turn, I simply walk over and remove a noodle from the bag (which sits on the floor in front of the student). Once the student has accumulated a certain number of noodles (30 in my class’s case), they receive a prize.
Obviously any kind of noodle or other small object will work, as will any prize. The prize for my class was kazoos, which we are now using as educational tools in class (the differences between minor scales, improvising, etc.), as it seems that the kids are more comfortable with playing the kazoo in front of their classmates than they are with singing.