Preschool piano students are between the ages of 3 and 5, gaining their first experience at the piano. It’s a key moment in their musical development, that has the potential to shape their view of lessons for years to come. That’s why it’s important that piano is FUN, and that fun transfers over to the home in form of practice.
Practice can be a scary word, conjuring images of rote memorization, incomprehensible drills and arguments with parents when we’d really all rather be outside playing in the sun. That sort of discipline can be helpful, but at preschool and primary ages, it’s harmful.
Instead, here are some ideas for FUN piano practice, that doesn’t even look like piano practice. Try building in some of these activities with your kids a couple times a week and watch them develop. Remember, practice does not make perfect. Practice makes progress, and that should always be the goal.
Fun piano practice off the bench
1. Finding patterns. Patterns can be made out of anything, from toys to coins to clothes to dinner. Pattern recognition helps students learn their music more quickly, and aids in eventual memorization. It also helps lay the groundwork for mathematical understanding as the kids grow up and start in school.
2. Putting coins or tokens in a jar. Games like Operation may be too challenging for these ages, but there are many easier variants that can be made at home. Using an old kleenex box, tweezers (large plastic ones can be found in toy stores) and plastic toys, make a game of putting the toys in the box. Traditional toy cash registers with the coin slot can be used the same way. These sorts of games make the child use their pincher grip, which in turn strengthens the muscles in the hand and forearm, improving finger independence for piano. These same skills also show up in school when holding a pencil or paintbrush.
3. Playdoh, or other similar dough. Squeezing, rolling and cutting coloured doh may seem like the furthest thing from piano practice, but again, it all helps to develop the muscles of the hand and forearm. Younger students might be encouraged to press the playdoh with each finger in turn (using Wunderkeys names to enforce the link), while older preschool students might try making a quarter note. Different colours can also be used to make patterns.
4. Ear training. One of the most common mix-ups in terminology among this age group is high/short and low/long. It seems strange to most adults, but kids frequently believe low sounds are always long, and high notes are always short. Simply a habit of mentioning sounds qualities to your child when heard can help to clear this confusion, as can making a game out of it using animal noises. Other ear training ideas are already available on this blog.
These activities are just a few ideas of how to make piano practice fun with off-bench activities in the home, but they are by no means the final word! They can also be used as a way to include siblings who aren’t in lessons, even if those siblings are too young for formal instruction.