Student Activity: Snakes and Ladders Rhythm Game

It's not a game familiar to most digital native kids these days. But when I was young, Snakes and Ladders used to be a game I played countless times. It boosts the competitive spirit within the players to navigate - with a favorable touch from Lady Luck - the snakes and reach the end.

When my students have a wobbly beginning in their sense of rhythm, elucidated by their inability to clap and count accurately, I whip up this game!

The game mechanics remains unchanged from how we play it. The only tweak I added is that they have to earn their chance to spin the die by clapping rhythm pattern correctly.

How to Play:

1. Shuffle the rhythm cards and place them nicely in a stack. Student picks the first card right on top and claps the rhythm.

2. If the rhythm is clapped correctly, he/she can proceed to spin the die and move their token on the game board.

3. If the rhythm is clapped incorrectly, he/she loses the chance and it is the next player's turn.

4. The first player to reach the FINISH square wins.

The game board. Will the winner be the snail or the unicorn?

The elder brother watches on as the girl attempts to clap the rhythm correctly.

Now it's the brother's turn! Will he acquire his chance to advance the snail?

Will the snail catch up?

The quest to win was shared between me, the teacher, and my young female student. Her brother, upon noticing this sight, exclaimed: "Why do you always play games with her and not me?". In response, the mission to win shifted to the siblings.

This move allowed me to achieve several positive outcomes:

1. The interaction inculcates great fun learning important concepts together.

2. It allows me to teach the young girl something new while performing revision for her elder brother.

3. A game possesses higher efficacy than the typical top-down teaching format in making concepts adhere in the kids' minds more securely.