chips and salsa time signatures game
game,  rhythm

Chips & Salsa Time Signature Game

I love chips and salsa! So, combining one of my favorite foods with some music theory out comes, Chips and Salsa Time Signature Game! You can adapt this time signature game to use it with one student in a lesson or with multiple students in a group lesson. The overall point of this time signature game is to match the tortilla chip rhythm cards with the correct bowl of salsa. 

What you need to know to play Chips and Salsa Time Signature Game:

1. The student should understand that “A four on the bottom of means a quarter note gets one beat!” All of the time signature salsa bowls have a 4 as the bottom number – 3/4, 4/4, 5/4, 6/4.

2. The rhythm symbols used include quarter notes, half notes, dotted half notes, whole notes, quarter rests, half rests and whole rest. 

3. The student also needs to understand that a whole rest can mean to rest for a whole measure. 

4. They need to be able to add up the beats on each tortilla chip card to determine how many beats are in each measure.

Chips and Salsa Time Signature Game for 1 Player:
  • Print off the pages of tortilla chip emojis and salsa bowls cut them apart on the dotted lines.
  • Set the 4 salsa bowl cards on the floor in front of the student.
  • Put all the tortilla chips in a stack or in a “chip” bag. 
  • Have the student read the rhythm on the card. Match the rhythm on the tortilla card to the correct time signature. Place the card on top of the salsa bowl.
Variations:
  • You could also put the salsa bowl cards in front of bowls, have the student put the tortilla cards in the bowl behind the salsa bowl.
Chips and Salsa Time Signature Game for 2 or Players:
  • Print off the pages of tortilla chip emojis and cut them apart on the dotted lines.
  • Print off a set of salsa bowls for each player (page 7)
  • Set the 4 salsa bowl cards on the floor in front of each player.
  • Stack the tortilla chip cards in the middle.
  • Each player takes a turn taking 1 card and putting it on their correct salsa bowl.
  • When a player gets a whole rest, they choose which salsa bowl to put the whole rest on. Once a whole rest is on a salsa bowl, that bowl can no longer have any tortilla chips. The whole rest remains on the top of that salsa bowl.
  • If a player chooses a tortilla chip that matches a salsa bowl that has a whole rest on top. They set that card aside.
  • After all the chips have been used, the player with the most cards on top of salsa bowls wins. 

If you have lots of lessons to  play the Chips and Salsa Time Signature Game, you might want to consider laminating the cards. This highly rated laminating machine from amazon is significantly cheaper than any machine I have seen in our local stores. Be sure and get laminating pouches. If you don’t want to use a machine, then you might try the self-sealing laminating pouches.

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