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Month: April 2021

Piano Activity: Fidget Spinner Finger Builder

Uncategorized / By / April 27, 2021

Are you working with a young piano student who has trouble keeping their fingers curved? You are not alone! This piano activity is suitable for any age beginning piano student or a student who has trouble with finger strength.

I have seen a huge change over the past 30 years in the lack of hand strength and fine motor development in young children who are starting piano lessons. I believe it is because children today are spending more time in front of screens and televisions, rather than moving their bodies and playing outside.

So teachers are always looking for fun piano activities for kids to help strengthen their hands and fingers for the technique they need to play the piano.

Fidget Spinner Piano Activity

Children and adults love playing with fidget spinners. So working with a fidget spinner isn’t like homework or a lesson assignment at all! Preschoolers and Kindergarteners will benefit from counting and identifying the number on the free printable. Older students may try to count as fast as possible to get to a number beyond (40 not on the printable)… Bravo!

You can access the free piano activity below. Be sure to watch my youtube video (also below) to see the piano activity in action! And for more fun piano activities for kids, please subscribe to my Youtube channel!

Get Your FREE Printable here!

Colorful or printer friendly printables for the Fidget Spinner Finger Builder Piano Activity will help your student count and improve finger strength at the same time!

Just sign up for my mailing list and you you’ll have this freebie coming your way.

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    Sneaky Mouse Piano Game

    Piano, Piano Games / By / August 26, 2021 / , , ,

    If you’re looking for a fun activity you can play with your preschooler, that will leave your future piano teacher thanking you over and over, then this piano game is for you!

    Children love to play games, so I want to show you a piano game that you can use to help prepare your young child for piano lessons.  Whether your child is already taking preschool piano lessons or you are hoping they will study the piano in the future, this activity will help develop the fine motor skills that children need for piano lessons.

    Fine motor skills are not only important for learning to play the piano but they are also important for school readiness.  Kids use fine motor skills to color, write, and do other activities that help them succeed in school. So you will find that this game is even helpful in preparing your child for Kindergarten.

    One thing you will need besides the Sneaky Mouse Cards is the Last Mouse Lost Game Board and instructions which can be purchased from Amazon (affiliate link).

    Last Mouse Lost Game Board

    I often find tangible board games adapt into preschool piano games because preschoolers learn really well with tangible 3-D products. Kids as young as 18 months love love love to push these silicone bubbles. Due to copyright, I do not republish the instructions of this game, but I do give you instructions on how I modify the game. I also have a youtube video that gives more details that I will share here.

    (NOTE: I may have affiliate links on this page and that means if you make a purchase when you click through my link I may make a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting my blog!)

    Most piano games are flat… meaning they are printed games like tic tac toe, bingo, candy land, and go fish style card games.  But actually having a game board… the cheese… makes this game really really fun, and very beneficial in teaching so many things little piano students need to work on…. Finger numbers, finger strength, finger coordination, and knowing Right and Left Hands.   Plus it’s a strategy game, not a game of chance.

    Strategy begins all over when someone draws the card that says “Turn over the cheese”.  You actually turn the cheese board over and resume play!

    My five year old grandson asks to play this game every time he comes over!

    piano game

    Benefits of playing Sneaky Mouse Piano Game

    • work on Right Hand and Left Hand
    • learn finger numbers for playing the piano
    • build finger independence
    • strengthen the fingers
    • engages the mind because it is a strategy game

    Sneaky Mouse Card Game

    This piano game is available in my shop!

    Sneaky Mouse Cards (Digital file)

    Get My First Preschool Piano Game for free!

    Do you want your child to learn preschool piano?
    ​
    This is the first game I play with every one of my students. Now you can play at home!

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      Here is the Beehive Music Activity for Preschoolers

      Fingerplays, Piano, Piano Printable / By / September 27, 2021 /

      Preschool piano lessons will not look like traditional piano lessons for older kids. Preschoolers learn by moving, singing, playing musical instruments, and playing games. So we have to find ways to engage these busy bodies because they will not sit still for long! I want to introduce you to a music activity for preschooler children that I have taught over and over… and kids still beg for more.

      “Here is the Beehive” is a counting finger play that you can use to teach the finger numbers for the piano. Fingering can be confusing because the fingers are numbered 1=thumb, 2=pointer, 3=middle, 4=ring, and 5=pinky. When you hold your hands out in front of you, you will see that the finger numbers go in OPPOSITE directions. This can trick even older beginning students.

      I use a lot of fingerplays while teaching preschoolers because these music activities can help children learn how to feel the beat (a gross motor skill), and can also help little hands develop finger independence (moving one finger at a time which is a fine motor skill).

      Parents are wonderful music teachers for their preschool children because they can capture the best teachable moments in a child’s day. I remember many preschool piano lessons that just didn’t happen because a child was overtired and uncooperative. Parents are very capable of teaching the very simple musical concepts that are covered in preschool piano lessons utilizing an abundance of music activities for preschoolers.

      You can even extend music activities by adding a coloring sheet, reading some books about bees, singing other bee songs, and by just allowing your child to create their own bee song at the piano. Below, I am offering some FREE printables that will help you extend your learning time. I am also including a few wonderful book titles from Amazon (affiliate links), and a video I created demonstrating the fingerplay.

      Here is the Beehive
      Music Activity for Preschoolers
      FREEBIE

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        I would love to hear what some of your favorite fingerplays for preschoolers are. Leave a comment below! I’d love to make a video featuring your favorite music activity for preschoolers.

        NOTE: Some links on this page may contain affiliate links. That means if you click on the link and make a purchase I may make a small commission at no extra cost to you. This helps support my blog and Youtube channel. Thank you for your support!

        Mothers Day Gift Ideas for Young Kids!

        Freebies, Piano, Piano Printable / By / September 13, 2021 / , , , , , ,

        I have raised five children and when they were little I was always looking for homemade or DIY Mothers Day gift ideas. They loved having something special to give me that they created. As a music teacher, I always encourage my students to play songs for parents. I know their parents appreciate practice and thoughtfulness. This is especially so when kids learn a song just for them.

        It’s a fact… young children love to create. My almost 2 year old grandson is always saying, “Watch me!” as he dances, plays an instrument, or is riding his little scooter. It’s only natural for a young child’s creative expression to explore musical instruments… examining, experimenting, and often playing them in ways unintended 🙂 So when I created this Mothers Day gift idea, it is with the intention that a preschool age child can experiment and play any key on the piano to play the Mother’s Day Song, because this is how they learn!

        A Mothers Day Song

        This unique Mothers Day gift idea includes a song sheet that has a flower for each syllable of each word. It’s fun to see if the child hears that some syllables might be longer than others. Some young children may not notice and that is okay too!

        To help the child with the words, I like to point to the flowers as I speak the words. A child can repeat each row like an echo. They even have fun moving a small toy (like a lego, mini eraser, etc.) from flower to flower.

        mothers day gift ideas

        Some Ideas How to Introduce this Activity to Kids

        I am a huge fan of play-based learning, so allowing a child to experiment playing notes at the piano without rules is really important… there are no right or wrong notes when it is their own creation. There are so many developmental benefits of making music, so when children are encouraged to make music it catapults their brain into higher levels of cognitive development.

        I always encourage parents to create a joyful home using children’s music. However, in this instance, I encourage parents resist the temptation to give a young child creative ideas. While these suggestions are usually not intended to impede the creating process, I find children become limited by these suggestions… thinking they must copy an example demonstrated by an adult.

        Upon hearing their creation, it is fun to ask the child to tell you what thoughts they had about playing their song the way they did. Did they have any other ideas? Does the song move higher? Or lower? Are there some notes that are long? or short? Will their song sound better if it is played soft? medium? loud? a combination of some of those ideas? Talking about these kinds of musical thoughts may give them some more good ideas!

        Some children may be absolutely brand new to the piano keyboard and anything they play is wonderful. Other children may already know a little bit about the piano and might like to write the music alphabet letters on their flowers. This helps them remember to play the song the same way each time. And of course, you can print the song sheet again if they change their mind!

        A Mothers Day Card

        Mothers day gift ideas

        Another part of this Mother’s Day gift idea is a greeting card.

        Often young children want to get things for the people they love, and having a beautiful greeting card is special for them. On Mother’s Day, they will be able to play their song on the piano and also give a beautiful card that they can sign. Light gray words reading “I LOVE YOU” are inside the card. A child can choose to trace the letters, and they can also trace or color the butterflies on the back of the card.

        Writing, tracing, coloring all encourage the development of fine motor skills which are super important to any young piano student. So I always encourage toys, games, and ideas to help young musicians get a head start.

        I am offering this Mothers Day gift idea for free! By signing up on my mailing list, you will receive the digital files for the Mothers Day Song and the greeting card (envelope not included). You will also be notified of all the freebies, preschool music products, and videos I create to help you teach music to your child. I am sure your budding musician will love creating a one of a kind song and greeting card! Make this Mother’s Day a memorable day for your preschool child! And… the special mother in their life!

        Get your FREE
        Preschool Piano Improvisation
        Song Sheet & Greeting Card!

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