Visiting each destination only once, music students visit all 18 national parks and monuments to collect postcards. In addition, students learn about United States geography. Each card provides an interesting fact about each place visited. Students can mail these postcards to a friend or family member to share what they are doing in music lessons or save them as a collection.
Each student’s goal is to finish the game during the year. Because students choose their path in the game, they cannot easily see who is in the lead. Teachers may add a competitive aspect to the game by awarding a prize to the first finisher(s).
Teacher and parent-approved! Both teachers and parents have noticed increased motivation and results with this practice motivation game! Pack the car and let’s explore America!
Your students will be excited to move their car on the board and see their progress in this incentive program for piano lessons or any music student.
Teacher Kit Details:
Professionally Printed Motivation Game Board is 2′ tall by 3′ wide, made from reusable heavy vinyl. Game pieces stick to the board and re-stick as students move them each week. Includes 24 game pieces and character inserts. Order additional pieces separately.
Student Kit Details:
Set of 18 color postcards (one set per student).
Optional: Assignment book download (studio license) with answer pages, a place to track where students have been on the game board, and assignment pages.
Please note: The game board ships separately and will incur additional shipping.
Sue D –
Michelle,
My students and I love this idea and game board. We played it 2 different semesters, each time a little differently. Students were very motivated and competed against each other when they all started at the same place. In one scenario, the grand prize went to the first student that finished with the most number of days practiced and reached the most goals set each week. At the start of the game, I added sticky markers so all students could move along the same path. The other semester, when students picked their own route, I saw it took more lesson time to give students ideas for alternate (shorter) routes. Bottom line…..all my students were excited to see their name markers move week to week. Now we want your Mr. Arpeggio and Museum games.
Noreen C. –
Last summer I had fallen into a slump. Finding the “America the Beautiful” incentive program revitalized me and my studio. The students were so motivated from week to week to move forward on the map. We culminated our year with an “America the Beautiful” recital featuring American Folk Songs, patriotic and military theme songs with a backdrop screen displaying pictures of landscapes of America. It was one of the most fun and moving recitals we’ve performed. Thank you so much for your educational products!
Jennifer C –
Last August, my husband and I took a month-long road trip, visiting 5 US national parks, of which several are on the America the Beautiful road map, so it was the perfect studio challenge for 2024-25! This is the 3rd Motivation Program that my studio has done, and my students love it! Rather than using practice as a basis for progressing in the challenge, I use different goals, depending on the age and level of students. For instance, all of my students do annual piano exams, so for this challenge, I used the categories in the exam as practice goals. Each week they practiced the set amount of days in a category earned them one square. Categories included sight reading, aural skills, theory writing practice, keyboard skills, technique and repertoire. Younger students that aren’t ready for piano exams still had practice days to earn squares. Occasionally, I would give additional goals to earn “bonus” miles. This has been our best Studio Challenge so far! In December, my husband and I visited Dry Tortugas National Park in the Florida Keys, where I bought enough postcards for all of my students. Students that complete and collect all 18 postcards before the end of the schoolyear can then earn this “bonus” postcard. I would love to give away all the postcards I bought!