Kids just love playing What’s The Note Mr Wolf? Note Value Guessing Game – And it’s such a good lesson too! Combines note recognition and time values with role play and a game of chase at the end!
What’s the no-te Mr Wolf? Mr Wolf? Mr Wolf?
What’s the no-te Mr Wolf? Tell us, tell us please!
( can be chanted or sung to “Who’s Afraid of The Big Bad Wolf?” from the old disney cartoon)
This is such a fun note value guessing game, inspired by the old favourite ‘What’s the Time Mr Wolf?’ The principle is much the same, except instead of counting and stepping according to the hours around the clock, the number of beats to each note value determine the number of steps you should take.
How To Play What’s The Note Mr Wolf
- You can use the cards provided or it’s also fine to improvise and just make the notes up on the spot.
- The little song or chant is very short and should be sung or chanted each time the children ask the wolf what note he is holding.
- The wolf stands with his back to the rest of the group, at one end of the room and takes a note card from a bag.
- After identifying the note himself, he calls out in a big ‘wolfy’ voice whether it is a crotchet – 1/4 note or minim – 1/2 note.
- The other children then take the appropriate number of steps, in this case 1 or 2, counting as they go.
- When they have counted the steps, the wolf spins around and looks to see if he can spot anyone moving. If he does then that person has to go back to the starting line.
- The child who is the wolf will soon realise that they can control the other players’ progress – but that is all part of playing the game!
- When the children are almost up behind the wolf, and the wolf thinks he is close enough to perhaps catch someone, he shouts “it’s dinner time!” and he spins round and tries his best to catch someone.
- The children try to escape the wolf by dashing back to the ‘home’ side of the room.
- If the wolf does catch someone then he or she will be the next wolf.
The children get so involved with the catching and chasing element of the game that they don’t realise that they are learning to recognise and name the music notes and how many beats each one is worth. The game can also be easily adapted to keep it very simple for younger children by only including simple crotchets and minims, or it can be made more challenging for slightly older kids by calling out more than one note at a time like “2 crotchets and 2 minims”.
Either way the kids love it and will want to play it over and over again! This activity also works well with the 3Little Pigs story telling activity to add a bit of movement to a wolf themed lesson.