A couple years ago, I happened upon the game Bounce Off in the sale aisle of Toys'R'Us. I bought the game for a song and it has sat unused ever since. After brainstorming new ways to get my voice students to compose and sight-sing, I dug out this old gem again.

While this game can easily be recreated using ping pong balls and re-purposed egg cartons, I like the ease of Bounce Off because it comes equipped with 2 sets of 8 colored balls. I immediately marked one set with the 8 major solfege pitches. I decorated the other set with rhythmic symbols, including 2-3 different note values on each ball in order to allow more choice while composing.

To play: Have your student draw a yellow ball from a container. I fill the empty game box with all balls and have the student draw one until the correct color is chosen. Add the first yellow ball to the grid. Next, have the student select a blue ball and add underneath the yellow ball. Alternate drawing yellow and blue balls until you reach the desired length for your melodic pattern. After the pattern has been constructed, have the student sight-sing their creation!

Note: With younger students, it may be helpful to remove solfege pitches ti and fa. I refrain from using the dotted half note and single 8th notes/rests for beginner students as well.

Here are several examples of compositions that have been created using this draw-and-place method.