First Position Card Game
Here is a first position card game for beginning violin students. It’s spring time, kids are ready to be out of school and playing outside. They are tired after all the testing. Having a variety of activities for lessons or practice can be a good thing at this time of year.
What Do They Need To Know?
Students will need to know the letters for the basic finger pattern position in first position on all 4 strings. 1st finger a whole step above the open string, 2nd finger a whole step above 1st finger, 3rd finger a half step above 2nd finger and 4th finger a whole step above 3rd finger. This first position game is to reinforce both finger numbers and pitches at the same time. Students will need to identify the finger and the letter name for the house that is on the fingerboard.
Preparing to Play:
- Print off all 5 pages of the cards. I like to use card stock to help prevent accidental tearing.
- For heavy use or to use year after year, consider laminating the cards.
- Cut the cards apart on the dotted lines.
How to Play “I Have Who Has – First Position Card Game”
- Divide the 20 cards between the players. If you have an odd number of players, it’s ok if one or two players has an extra card. (All the cards must be in the game.)
- The first player reads the top of their card, “I Have… Who Has…” They must identify the finger number and the letter for the house on the finger board.
- The player who asked the question, “Who Has?” then places their card card in the middle so all players can see the card.
- All players look through their cards to see which card has that finger and letter typed under the “I Have” section of their cards.
- The player who has the card with the finger and letter typed on the top, then places their cards the top of the card in the middle.
- The player who played the top card, then reads the card in the middle.
- The play continues until all the cards are placed in the middle stack.
This is a chance game, so the winner is the first person to get rid of all of their cards. But, you could present this as just an activity. It’s really about working together to match up all the cards.
