I am going to play the racing game I've seen described here at some point at my group class tomorrow. I have students who read on the staff and those who don't yet. So I am tweaking it by having 2 teams, the staff team and the ABC team. The ABC team members will take turns picking up jewels with alphabet letters on them and going to the piano and placing the jewel on the correct key. I will time them until they have placed all 26 jewels.
The staff team will have staff cards and will come to the keyboard with their card and point to the correct note. I plan to put a plus or minus on the back of the card so there is no embarassment over answering incorrectly. I will simply tally the pluses and minuses at the end. And factor in the time each team took.
Anyone have ideas on how to improve on this, or prepare students for the game?

No ideas - but you just gave me a great jump for my classes next week! I haven't had groups with mixed levels before, but I will next week. We are getting ready for our local AIM festival - and I wanted the younger ones to see and hear, not only the repertoire but the keyboard skills that come at the higher levels. I wasn't sure how to make it into a game that seemed fair. This seems so simple!!

I just don't do games very well.
Thanks

Thanks for the game idea and the great picture. I must be a visual person, because when I read about games on a message board, if often don't get it. But a picture works wonders. I love you jewels. I use some for one of my games, but I've never thought to use them your way. Your students are going to have fun. They will probably want to play it more than once.
-Susan