10 Free Online Music Games for Kids

Fun and games are an essential part of education, especially for kids, since we all know how hard it is to keep children’s attention. Games crafted for teaching and educating are always a good idea, making lessons more dynamic and exciting for young children.

This of course also applies to music, and it’s a lot easier since music is inherently fun, so it’s no wonder that there are a lot of games out there that appeal to children and make learning music a lot more fun.

That is why we are going to be looking into some of the best free online music games for kids, so if you are a parent or a music teacher, this will definitely be useful for you.

Classic for Kids Games

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This is a great option to start from scratch, as it will help children interested in music but who don’t actually know anything about it. This game will cover rhythm, and musical notes, learn about some famous composers, match rhythms, and even learn to make simple compositions.

https://www.classicsforkids.com/music-games/

Music Memory Game

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Music Memory Game is a bit more advanced than the previous one since it requires basic knowledge in order to find the fun part of the game.

The idea of the game is that the child has to identify musical notes by listening to them. It’s very simple to just choose the right one with buttons that have the notes name on them, if the player presses the right note the game will get harder, if the wrong note is selected, then the player will lose one of 5 lives.

It’s a fun little experience that will engage with children and even make for a good way to spice things up with healthy competitive experiences by seeing who can get the highest score!

https://www.proprofsgames.com/music-memory/

PBS Kids Music Games

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Going back to a simpler experience, this game offers a variety of kids’ songs so they can learn to sing them and dance. There are few ways to interact with the game but do keep in mind this is a very easy experience that is geared towards very young kids that haven’t gotten the chance to know what it feels to enjoy music, so if you want to teach them the first step of music, this could be a great tool for that.

https://pbskids.org/games/music

Inside The Orchestra Musical Games

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This is an interesting one, it offers 8 different games that are based on a musical instrument. The game seeks to teach children to familiarize themselves with musical instruments you can find in an orchestra, so the idea is that they can play a game that requires them to match a sound to an instrument, or test their listening accuracy, and even let them compose music.

This is a very complete experience that focuses on one of the most fun parts of music, which is the musical instruments, so if you find yourself in need to teach them about the variety of instruments that make an orchestra sound so big, this is a great way to show them everything about it.

You can even play video performances with recordings in the game, so they can see how professional musicians use a specific instrument.

https://insidetheorchestra.org/musical-games/

Ducksters Music Matching Game

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There is not a lot to find in this game but what it does, it’s without a doubt a very useful way to help kids with their journey learning a musical instrument.

The idea of the game is to match sounds, going from matching 3 notes to 8 notes. This will allow for an experience that is both challenging and fun at the same time, and it’s a great exercise for children that are just stepping into the world of music.

https://www.ducksters.com/games/music_matching_game.php

Quia Orchestra Instrument Family

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As you have probably seen already, not every game has to be a jack of all trades, in fact, the best thing about these games is that most of them have some useful aspect for a child’s learning process, in the case of Quia Orchestra Instrument Family, it offers a simple quiz that presents 21 instruments that the player will have to which family it belongs to, this is percussion, strings, brass, and woodwind.

This is a simple idea but it’s definitely an effective way to help a young beginner remember every instrument and its role in the bigger picture, so try this one out, you can’t go wrong with a well-crafted quiz.

https://www.quia.com/quiz/334720.html

BBC Instrument Matchup

This game is all about matching instruments with the sounds, it’s great to help with training the musical ear and have fun while doing it.

There are also a few extra activities including sound, rhythm, mood, and quizzes.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/schools/4_11/music/mm/orchestra02.shtml

Garageband

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We know Garageband isn’t exactly a kid’s game, but it can be fun to play around with, especially if you are a music teacher with previous knowledge of this DAW.

If you are teaching children of a more advanced level, this could be a cool alternative as a teaching tool, that way you can show them parts of the composition process, instrument sounds, and more.

If you feel like your students are advanced enough, you can try and give them instructions and help them make small compositions, although we recommend this if you have only a handful of students or better yet, one student.

 https://www.apple.com/mac/garageband/

Theremin

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This a very cool one, it’s an online synth that works as a very good way to help children with their first steps into electronic music. That said, this is good for older children that already have some knowledge of music.

It’s an electronic Theremin that allows the player to control a few aspects of the sound including delay, feedback, and scuzz.

The way it works is by left-clicking on the mouse and moving it around to play different notes.

There is not much of a traditional game in this one but, the accessibility and fun aspect is very clear, making it almost like a game.

https://femurdesign.com/theremin/

Bach Google Doodle

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This is a must-try for children that are learning the basics of music reading and composing, it’s very easy to access and it has an amazing presentation.

This game celebrates Bach by giving the player control of melodies and small compositions and having them played instantly in the style of Bach. There is also a fun little thing that allows you to play the melody as a rock song if you click on the small amp!

This will definitely offer tons of fun and is a perfect tool for music teaching, so give it a try!

https://dynamicmusicroom.com/online-music-games-classroom/

Why are Kids’ Music Games Good?

First of all, is important to note that even if a child is not going to dedicate a lifetime to music as a professional, music is still something that we enjoy in our everyday lives, so it’s only natural we use it to our advantage in order to make the learning process more fun for the future generation.

It has also been proven by several studies that music does accelerate brain development. According to Diane W Bales, Assoc Professor & Human Dev Spec, Family & Consumer Sciences:

Learning to play an instrument can have longer-lasting effects on spatial reasoning, however. In several studies, children who took piano lessons for six months improved their ability to work puzzles and solve their other spatial tasks by as much as 30 percent. Why does playing an instrument make such a difference? Researchers believe that musical training creates new pathways in the brain.

There have also been studies that indicate an increase in mathematical learning, and it makes sense since the core of musical rhythm is pure mathematics.

But why do games help in this regard? well, children don’t have the same discipline and attention an adult may have, that is why it’s important to keep the attention of children in fun ways that seem like it’s not a learning process but rather just entertaining, when in fact there is a lot of learning in those moments.

These games improve the way they learn basic concepts in music, as we’ve seen with the recommendations, these games range from memory games to quizzes, and even early stages of composition, making everything accessible and easy to understand.

According to Mary Luehrisen, who is the executive director of the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) Foundation, a not-for-profit association that promotes the benefits of making music, says:

When you look at children ages two to nine, one of the breakthroughs in that area is music’s benefit for language development, which is so important at that stage,” says Luehrisen. While children come into the world ready to decode sounds and words, music education helps enhance those natural abilities. “Growing up in a musically rich environment is often advantageous for children’s language development,” she says. But Luehrisen adds that those inborn capacities need to be “reinforced, practiced, celebrated,

Can You Use these Games for Proper Teaching?

If you are a music teacher or you are beginning to learn how to teach music to children, these music games will be a great tool for you to help your students get motivated with music.

While you won’t want to build your entire class around these games, they can certainly provide something new and exciting to children. The idea is to always keep things fresh and as fun as possible, if not you will lose their attention.

These games can be especially useful if you teach via Zoom or any other long-distance method. It’s very easy you could share your screen with the student in order to demonstrate how the game works and help him set it up in order to play. This can be extremely useful if organized correctly, as there are games that can be used for each part of the learning process in the world of music, so if you are teaching rhythm, you can teach the theory and add a game for practice, then the same with instruments, you can show the instruments, their types and how they look, and then practice with a game, although it’s up to the parent or the teacher how to handle the order of things.

Conclusion

Music is a big part of life, and it doesn’t come s much of a surprise that learning and interacting with music in various ways actually helps children to develop healthier brains and improve their overall social, mathematic, and problem-solving capabilities.

That is why it’s important to look for alternatives that will make learning music a fun entertaining activity, which is not that hard since music is already fun.

You’ll be able to find an online music game for different stages of music learning, as well as some that make for excellent tools for teachers, so depending on the age of your students or children, you’ll be able to find something fun and useful.

We hope this article was of help to you, and encourage you to try every game, they’re easy to access and they are all free!