Every fall, when students come back to weekly lessons after summer break, I feel like we spend the first month just reviewing concepts and note-reading. All my students take at least 4 lessons over the summer (July and August) but practice is not as regular as during the school year. The summer slide is a real thing…

Last year I gave each of my students one of my Toucan Piano flashcard decks (you can receive a free printable flashcard deck by signing up for our newsletter! No spam, “tou-can” count on it!).

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We spent the first month back drilling flashcards. At the beginning of every lesson, we would do a run-through of their deck and time how long it took them. They were in training mode… because the Zombie Pian-o-pocalypse was upon us!

A zombie hand with bright pink fingers rests on the keys of a piano.

The week before October started, we recorded their flashcard times. Each student was now in competition with themselves. That number represented the number they needed to beat in order to escape the zombies and survive the Zombie Pian-o-pocalypse.

Zombie Beethoven and Zombie Mozart stand in front of a piano gravestone and a rise moon. The banner between them reads "Zombie Pian-o-pocalypse" in red.

When they returned to lessons the following week, our poster was up with everyone’s times and the stage was set for their first showdown with the zombie horde.

Their first weekly challenge was a joke with no punchline. They would have to decipher the punchline at home and then deliver the punchline passcode to me (so I knew they were not a zombie trying to get me!). If they were successful, they placed a sticker on the poster in the passcode column.

But the true challenge was still to come… the weekly game would decide if the zombies would catch them or if they would survive another week of the pian-o-pocalypse. A win guaranteed salvation, but a loss would possibly doom them to the mercy of the zombies.

All the games and activities from the zombie piano apocalypse are laying on a table with skeleton hands reaching out to play the games.

I say “possibly” because there was still an inkling of hope! Their flashcard time. If they lost the game, they still had a chance to survive… IF they beat their flashcard time. We would then bust out their deck and time them as they worked their way through their flashcards.

Every student who beat their time had so much pride in their accomplishment. They smiled so wide as they erased their old time off the poster and recorded their new faster time! It was so exciting to watch the seconds get shaved off their times each week. A few were even able to get a full deck (32 cards) in under 1 minute by the time the pian-o-pocalypse was said and done! The record was 51 seconds.

A poster has all the recorded flashcard times of students participating in the zombie pian-o-pocalypse. Bat, ghost and jack-o-lantern stickers were placed on the challenges the students won.

This was one of the most exciting studio-wide challenges I’ve ever done with my students. 4 weeks, 4 joke sets, and 4 zombie-themed games. I saw so much improvement in their note-reading AND we had a blast in the process! All in time to get our Christmas carols ready for our Holiday concert.

This was one of the most exciting studio-wide challenges I’ve ever done with my students: 4 weeks, 4 joke sets, and 4 zombie-themed games.

Another thing I loved about this challenge was that my students weren’t in competition with each other, only themselves (which helped the more non-competitive students I have to stay focused and excited). They didn’t feel like they were losing or getting left behind because even if someone had a better time than themselves, they didn’t all have the same decks (each deck only had the notes that they had already learned), so there was no possibility of comparison. It definitely helped keep everyone motivated.

What’s in the Zombie Pian-o-pocalypse?

The Zombie Pian-o-pocalypse comes with everything you need to keep the fun and learning going for 4 weeks:

Zombie Pian-o-pocalypse Poster: Keep track of every student and create a sense of community around the challenge
Weekly Passcode Jokes: In a zombie pian-o-pocalypse anyone could be a zombie! How can you tell who isn’t? By telling a zombie themed joke each week. Students have to decipher the punchline at home and tell their teacher the joke when they arrive for their lesson.
4 Zombie-Themed Note-Reading Games:

The Zombie Pian-o-pocalypse Bundle is available as a download here. The games, poster, and jokes are available as individual downloads as well.

The Zombie Pian-o-pocalypse Poster!

The poster allows students to see how their friends are doing and to keep track of everyone’s progress. So many students were motivated to try to beat the times of friends (even though they knew they didn’t have the same flashcard decks).

Piano teacher holds up the completed Zombie Piano apocalypse poster.

Zombie Passcode Jokes

The Zombie Pian-o-pocalypse Passcode Jokes are a great way to keep the fun and learning of the pian-o-pocalypse going at home! There are 2 jokes per week, so siblings can have different jokes to work out on their own. At the beginning of the pian-o-pocalype, every student should receive a cipher. The cipher is used each week to decode the passcode. Every week, students receive a new joke to take home to figure out. They have to tell their teacher the joke when they arrive for their lessons. Even though I heard the same jokes over and over, they were still funny at the end!

The Zombie piano apocalypse passcode which are a series of zombie jokes are spread out on a wood table along with the cipher wheel.

Games! Games! Games!

Zombie Race

Prepare for a race against the undead in this heart-pounding flashcard game! The zombies are closing in and your survival depends on your quick (and precise!) note-reading skills. Set the timer for one minute and see how many cards you can answer correctly before the zombies catch up.

It’s a precision test like no other because any wrong answer will count against you at the end… not to mention that the zombies have one final card up their sleeve after your minute is up. Remember, in this game, you’re not just using your brain, you are trying to safeguard it from becoming zombie lunch!

The second deck of the Zombie Race flashcard game is spread out on a spiderweb tablecloth.

Eye Wish you Luck…

They’ve got their eyes on you. And their eyes are telling them they want you… for dinner (and not as musical entertainment)! You have a mere minute to correctly place as many notes on the grand staff as you can.

As the seconds tick away, the wheel of misfortune stands poised in the wings, waiting to seal your fate with a single spin… Will it align with one of your notes or will it condemn you to the role of this evening’s featured dish?

A skeleton hand spins Eye WIsh you Luck's wheel of misfortune.

Don’t Wake the Undead

The undead are restless… and the fate of all rests solely in your hand! Students spin the Wheel of Misfortune to discover the mystical note that they must play on the piano to lull the undead back into a peaceful slumber.

A zombie finger with a pink nail spins a game spinner.

The tension mounts as students draw card after card (and play the corresponding keys on the piano), desperately seeking that magical note that will ensure their safety. But beware, the alarm clock card looms somewhere in the deck, and one flip of a card could awaken the undead for eternity!

Don't wake the undead, a note-reading flashcard game, sits on a white table surrounded by zombie fingers and bats.

Zombody needs a Match

Everybody needs somebody sometime… even zombies! This note-reading matching game will have your students playing matchmaker and seeing hearts fly (literally… because, well, zombies!).

Students will try to match the notes of the Boy Zombie to the letters of the Girl Zombie. Who will make the most love connections and watch the zombies limp off together into the sunrise?

A match is shown for the note-reading flashcard game, Zombody needs a match.

I Can Heart-ly Wait for the Punchline
A heart themed laugh-out-loud note reading game. I love this game because not only do students have to think about keyboard geography, they also have to be able to associate the notes with their exact location on the piano.
Musical M.A.S.H
This free printable game tests your student’s knowledge of the spaces on the grand staff. It’s a fast, easy game to play, and will predict your student’s musical future with hilarious results!
Chord Snowblast
A real howler in July! Are you longing for cooler temperatures this summer? Bust out Chord Snowblast (and the mini-erasers) for a cool piano game that covers all the major and minor chords!
Top Practice Tools Every Piano Student should Have: #7 Mini-Erasers
Piano students don’t need a lot of accessories to practice, but there are a few tools that make a practice session easier and more effective… and in the case of mini-erasers, so much cuter! Mini-erasers can be used in a wide variety of activities, from warm-ups to practice challenges, improvisation to fixing wrong notes, and so much more!

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We just enjoyed a week of group piano lessons. I love to come up with games that the kids can play together, sometimes in teams and sometimes every-man-for-himself! Note-reading is a basic skill that all students can practice, no matter their skill level, so I always try to include a note-reading game among our activities.

Best in Pass involves not only note-reading but also fine motor skills which makes it fun for students of all ages (including very young students). Although I played it during a group lesson, it is also adaptable to private lessons or buddy lessons.

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To play, you will need:

Ping-pong balls with the letters of the musical alphabet written on them (you should have a ping pong ball for every note you are drilling in the game)
Plastic spoons with notes on them
A bowl to hold the ping pong balls (they are an unwieldy bunch!)
A container to place all the plastic spoons
1 scooper spoon (a spoon without a note on it) per player

Seven mutli-colored ping pong balls lined up in a row. Each ball has a letter of the musical alphabet written on it in black. The letters are A, B, C, D, E, F and G. The balls sit above a row of five white plastic spoons. On the head of each spoon is a music note written in either the treble or bass clef.

If you’d like to see how to prep the materials for the game, jump down here.

Game Set-up:

Place all the ping-pong balls in a large bowl.

Place all the spoons that have notes on them in a container. Each player draws 5 spoons and names the notes that are written on them. Each player places the spoons in a row in front of them.

Each player gets their own scooper spoon (a spoon without a note on it). They will use this spoon to scoop the ping-pong balls out of the bowl and transfer them to their row of spoons.

How to Play:

The objective of the game is to be the first to fill up all your note spoons with their corresponding ping-pong balls (for example, a spoon with Middle C written on it should be paired with a ping-pong ball with the letter C). But… there’s a catch! Each ping-pong ball must be passed from spoon to spoon before being placed on its matching spoon.

Let’s say when a student laid out his/her spoons in a row, the spoon that ended up all the way at the end of the row on the right was a Middle C.

When the game starts, the student would search for a ping-pong ball with the letter C on it and scoop it out of the bowl with his/her scooper spoon. The student CANNOT place the ball directly on the spoon with the middle C. Instead, the ping-pong ball must be placed on the spoon at the beginning of the row all the way to the left.

The student then picks up this first spoon of the row and moves the ball to the next spoon. Then the student will pick up the second spoon and pass the ball to the third spoon. Then the ball is passed from the third spoon to the fourth spoon. And finally the ball is passed from the fourth spoon to the final spoon, the one with Middle C written on it. That spoon is now completed and out of play.

The student then moves on to filling the fourth spoon in the row using the same procedure.

The only rule is that you cannot touch the ping-pong balls with your hands! Only spoons can touch the balls. A student can use two spoons to try to catch a runaway ball.

Whoever fills up all their spoons first is the Best in Pass and the winner of the game!

Children gathered around a ball filled with ping pong balls. They are playing Best in Pass a note-reading race game. One child is attempting to scoop a ping pong ball out of the bowl with a white plastic spoon. Two other children are trying to move a ping pong ball from one spoon to another.

We had so much fun playing this at our group lessons! It was a great game to get the energy up and our brains and bodies engaged.

Let me know if you try it with your students!

For other games that can be used in both private and group lessons, check out:

Snowball Rhythm Game
Who will be able to make the longest rhythm train before the dreaded “Busted!” stick is revealed?! Kids will practice their rhythms while also practicing their aim in this fun toss game.
Chord Snowblast
Build chords and collect points while trying to avoid the snow blast! Kids will test their knowledge of building chords AND they will actually be hoping to get all the sharps and flats chords!!
Two Sides of the Same Coin
A game about enharmonics that can be played in several different ways! Students will try to collect the most enharmonic pairs and hope that their coins don’t get stolen by another player.

Preparing the Materials:

To prepare the game materials for Best in Pass you will need:

Ping –pong balls (the number will depend on how many notes you would like drill in the game)
Sharpie or another brand of permanent marker
Plastic spoons (one spoon for every note you would like to drill)
Avery Printable Matte White Round Labels ¾” diameter

Using the permanent marker, write one letter of the musical alphabet (A, B, C, D, E, F, G) on each ping-pong ball. Once all the ping-pong balls are labeled, place them in a bowl.

Colorful ping pong balls sit on a white table next to a black permanent marker. The ping pong balls have letters of the alphabet written on them in black.

If you are using the suggested Avery labels, Avery provides a template at their website here. Configure the printable labels on the computer so that each circle label has one note in it. Then print the labels.