Instrument Bingo Printable | Learning About the Orchestra

The other day, I was packing an order that included the Musical Instruments Family Unit Study and one of the printables caught my eye. The art is just so beautiful! I ended up flipping through the coursebook and each of the printables, reminiscing and remembering how much I LOVE unit.

So today, I decided to share one of the hands-on activities from the Musical Instruments Family Unit Study with you. But that’s not all, I also have a FREE Sample for you! Perhaps you will discover that you love it just as much as I do.

Grab the sample below, then keep reading to learn how to play Instrument Bingo!

Musical Instruments Family Unit Study FREE Sample

After you enter your email address below, you’ll be emailed a FREE Sample from the Musical Instruments Family Unit Study—including the cards for Instrument Bingo! You’ll also be brought to the How Wee Learn shop, where you can grab the complete resource should you decide it is right for you and yours.

Instrument Bingo

Materials

To set up and play your game of Instrument Bingo, you will need:

Instrument Cards (included with the free sample above)
Scissors
Glue stick
Bowl
Computer or other device to play instrumental sound clips
Bingo chips (you can use coins, small Lego, cut-up cardstock, etc.)

Getting Set Up

To set up for Instrument Bingo, first print and cut out one set of instrument cards for each player and one set for the caller.

Each player fills their Bingo card with instrument cards, gluing them into place. Be sure to leave the middle as a Free Space!

The caller mixes up their cards and puts them into a small bowl.

Now you’re ready to play!

How to Play

The caller selects an instrument card from the bowl and plays the corresponding sound clip. You can use the sound clips at the end of this post or the clips at beginband.com/sndclips.shtml.

Can you guess what family the instrument belongs to? This game includes the four families of instruments found in the orchestra that we learn about in the Musical Instruments Family Unit Study:

String Family
Wind Family
Brass Family
Percussion Family

Can you also guess what specific instrument it is? HINT: Smaller instruments are higher in pitch than larger instruments!

After everyone makes their guesses, the caller shows the instrument card that they drew from the bag and players mark that square on their Bingo card with a chip.

When a player makes a line on their card, they yell, “BINGO!”

Expert Mode! Try playing the game without the caller showing the picture of the instrument. Can you identify the correct instrument by sound only?

Extension: Learn About Timbre

While playing Instrument Bingo, you can chat about timbre (also one of the topics we cover in the Musical Instruments Family Unit Study!).

Timbre is one of the elements of music. It describes the quality of musical tone and helps us distinguish between different instruments. Exactly what you’re doing while playing Instrument Bingo!

A clarinet and a flute can play the same note (pitch) but sound different—it is the timbre, or musical tone quality, that differs.

Two factors greatly influence timbre:

The source of vibration.
The shape of the instrument.

When playing Bingo, did you notice any instruments with a similar timbre?

For example, you might have found that the violin and viola sound similar. Both instruments have a similar source of vibration (a bow moving across strings) and a similar shape, so it makes sense that their timbre would also be similar!

Keep that music learning going!

In How Wee Learn’s Musical Instruments Family Unit Study, you’ll learn all about the four families of instruments: strings, woodwinds, brass, and percussion. You’ll also have a blast creating your own instruments to experiment with sound, and explore composers like Greig and Vivaldi!

Grab the complete unit study right here: https://shop.howweelearn.com/products/family-unit-study-musical-instruments