About This Activity

Overview

Instrument Cards is an easy-to-play activity that offers students a fun way to practice musical instrument vocabulary words.

Students can play this game after memorizing the names of as few as 15 music instruments.

Currently, there is one sets of 18 cards available for this game.

It's a deduction card game with several different instruments on each card. Players need to use their verbal skills to deduce which of the cards laid out in front of them matches the "secret card" in their activity partner's possession, by using the sentence structure "Do you have a _________________?"

 

Activity Presentation Phase Instructions

 

Instruments Example Card

Card with a cello,
guitar & French horn

 

Instrument Card Example

Card with a trumpet,
violin & drum

 

Instrument Card Example

Card with a trumpet,
flute & piano

 

 

Download Game Materials

 

 

How To Play

Groups: This game is best played in pairs of two participants. One participant in each group will be the asker and the other will be the answerer.

Materials: Two identical sets of the 18 Instrument Cards are needed for each pair of two participants. This means two sets of Set A.

Time / Game Round: 1-3 minutes

 

  • The asker should lay out one set of game cards in front of them and the answerer should draw one "secret card" from an identical set of cards. The "secret card" will therefore match one of the 18 cards laid out in front of the asker.

  • The answerer can look at the "secret card," but they aren't allowed to show it to the asker. The asker can only learn which instruments appear on the "secret card" by asking verbal questions.

  • The asker's GOAL is to narrow down which of the 18 cards in front of them matches the "secret card" possessed by the answerer.

    To do this, the asker can use the sentence pattern "Do you have a _________________?" and systematically insert different instruments into the blank in the sentence pattern.

  • Based on the answerer's 'yes/no' answers, the asker can "eliminate" any cards that logically can't match the "secret card" held by the answerer. The best way to "eliminate" the non-matching cards, is to flip them over face-down. Then the asker can continue to ask more questions to further narrow down the remaining "face-up cards."

  • Each round of the game continues until the asker has narrowed down the cards in front of them to just one card. They can then ask the answerer, "Is this your card?"

 

For more detailed instructions for how to print, prepare, and introduce card-based deduction games like this one, click the blue button below.

 

How To Play

 

Printing & Preparation Instructions

 

 

Words to Learn Before Playing

The Core Vocabulary Words listed below are all words that students should learn BEFORE playing this game. There is currently only one set of cards for this activity.

 

Core Vocabulary Words Used in Activity
Card Set A (18 Cards) bag-pipes, banjo, bell, cello, drum, flute, French-horn, guitar, horn, keyboard, piano, trombone, triangle, trumpet, violin

 

 

Words to Learn While Playing

The following words will be used to the play this game (with every available set of cards). However, these words don't need to be pre-taught. These words can and should be learned WHILE playing the game.

 

Vocabulary Best Learned In Context
Used With All Sets a, card, do, don't have, I, is, isn't, no, this, yes, you, your

 

 

Sentence Patterns to Use While Playing

The following sentences and sentence patterns are recommended for use while playing this game. The best way to teach these sentences, is to use them in context while introducing the game and demonstrating how to play it.

 

Standard Sentences and Sentence Patterns
Do you have a _________________? / Do you have _________________?*
Yes, I do. / No, I don't.
Is this your card?
Yes, it is. / No, it isn't.

 

*Grammar Note: The music instrument 'bag-pipes' is grammatically plural, even though the name can mean a single music instrument. Therefore, you may wish to teach your students to ask "Do you have bagpipes?" instead of "Do you have bagpipes?" Alternatively, the game could be simplified by removing the 2 cards that feature images of bag-pipes.