DIY Magnet Music Notes – Easy Music Manipulatives

This DIY Magnet Music Notes activity is so easy and cheap to make, and in these days of digital overload it has a refreshingly retro appeal!

It’s so important to make learning to read music fun, and this is a good way to keep it hands on and visual. These sort of music manipulatives are a great way to encourage engagement and hold the attention, so this is a handy resource for using in classes or at home.

How To Make DIY Magnet Music Notes 

                               PRINT – DIY Magnet Music Notes

• You will need a flat baking sheet which you can buy easily anywhere, I got mine in the 1£ shop
• A roll of black insulation tape to make the stave -3/4 inch wide is ideal (also from the 1£ shop)
• 1/2 Inch Sticky backed craft magnets which you can buy easily online for making fridge magnets.
• The FREE printable Magnet Music Note sheet above (one sheet per person)

1. Print off the sheet and mount on to card, then cut out the notes and the clefs and attach them to the sticky magnets. The notes are slightly bigger to allow for cutting out. Just attach one magnet to the back of each clef at the strongest point.
2. To make the stave; using a ruler attach one strip of tape across the middle of the baking sheet. Then attach two equal strips above the middle line, 1 inch apart. Then two strips below the middle line to make the 5 line stave.
3. Also make a  1 1/2 inch, short strip to be the extra leger line for middle C to sit on.

How To Introduce Magnet Music Notes

1. Start off by making sure everyone knows the notes on the lines and the spaces of the Treble and Bass Clef – this can be taught as follows:
2. Put all the notes on a flat surface face up,  and start with a blank stave.
3. Ask the children who knows the lines of the treble clef stave? (Every,Good,Boy,Deserves,Fun)
4. Find the correct magnet notes for the lines of the stave.
5. Repeat for treble clef spaces (F,A,C,E)
6. Teach the bass clef in the same way – (Lines  – Great,Big,Dinosaurs,Fall,Asleep) (Spaces – All,Cows,Eat,Grass)
7. A good memory test is to first set the notes on the lines or spaces, and then tell the child to close their eyes while you take one away. Then they open their eyes and have to tell you which one is missing. This guessing game can be played both ways – children love trying to test the teacher too!
8. This method can also be used for teaching the order of notes of the lines and spaces in C major  – just ask the children to search for each note in turn, starting with middle C and then continuing up to the top F to complete the stave .

The Music Magnet Memory Game

1. You can play this game the same way for both Treble and Bass clefs.
2. It’s best played with 2 people, so make sure there is a double set of magnet notes to make sure there are enough for both players to build their stave.
3. Each child starts with a blank stave, and all the magnet notes are placed face down on the table.
4. Quite quickly, each player in turn chooses a note and turns it over;  you can only start when you find a C and if they don’t need the note it should be replaced face down.
5. Everyone should be watching carefully! Because you need to remember where all the other notes are hiding!
6. When they’ve found a C each, they can start to build their stave of notes.
7. The game proceeds in this way; each player taking turns to turn over a note. But they can only pick it up and put it on the stave if it is the next consecutive note that they need for their stave i.e D, E F, G and so on.
8. Continue in this way until they have completed their stave of notes. It gets easier and easier to remember where the notes are hiding as the game proceeds and there are fewer notes to choose from.
9. The first one to complete their stave is the winner.

If you’ve enjoyed this post, check out our new How To Read Music Theory Bundle? It’s the fun & child friendly way to learn to read music!