Many moons ago, I shared on Twitter a very light load to my music therapy sessions at local assisted living centers.  Two bags, no guitar.

I finally am taking the time to unveil this game twist sing-along tool to you. The biggest part of the load is my frame drums. (You could use a variety of percussion or even kazoos if you prefer.) This is one of the few times I didn’t have my guitar and didn’t miss it. The rest is very light – both to transport and on the pocketbook. The main piece is a round plastic table-cloth. I used black tape to divide the circle in 1/4ths. The sections were then labeled with a black permanent marker: name, play, sing, choice.

Songs were preselected by me and placed onto old business cards. A bean bag or two completes the supplies. 

To play, the group sits in a circle around the game board. All were provided drums. A group member throws the bean bag onto the board while the next group member pulls a card.

• Sing – Sing the song selected
• Play – Play the rhythm of the song (this was the most difficult for the group)
• Name – The leader or the person who pulled the card would “la” the melody while the group tried to guess the song
• Choice – They could select from any of the above or both singing and playing.

It was fun watching how much effort people would take to get a bean bag onto a particular area of the game! This could easily be modified by the songs selected. You could also have separate decks for each of the four areas.

Share your feedback on this low-cost, easy to transport game in the comments below. I’d especially like to hear if you try it with a group!