When I first started teaching piano to four year olds, I began to realise that my tried and tested teaching strategies needed to change, and fast! I started to understand that what these mini humans needed from me was an array of activities that would nurture things like gross + fine motor skills, basic language + reading comprehension, and numerical skills.
I strongly believe that four year olds shouldn't be expected to fit a mould during lessons, and instead these sorts of skills should be encouraged through play. Today I wanted to share four games that each focus on one skill. They can all be made more challenging depending on where the child is at!
To enter the Giveaway to win the Enjoy Piano 2016/17 Planners + Flashcards, please leave a comment on this post including your favourite game to play with this age group! It would be great for me and other teachers to hear what works for you. The winner will be announced Sunday 31st July at 3pm BST. Good luck!
Playing with alphabet cards + a quick memory game
Lay out one set of alphabet cards A-G on the floor. Put the A in front of your student, and ask them if they can find the next card in the alphabet. Can your student put the rest of the cards "in order"? Some children of this age won't know what "order" means, so be prepared to explain things in multiple ways! Gentle patience with yourself and the child is key.
If the child struggles, try humming the alphabet song to prompt their memory. If they are still struggling, singing the alphabet song with the words and stopping just before the next letter they need to place down on the floor could be useful for them.
Once they have put the cards in order, point to cards individually and see if they can work out/read what the letters are. Most students of this age will need to start at the beginning of the alphabet and move along until they get to the card you're pointing at.
If this is all easy breezy for your student, play a quick memory game by asking them to close their eyes while you remove one of the cards. Can they tell you which one is missing?
Copycat + Simon Says
When a student comes to me, the first thing I point out is the "twins" and the "triplets" - the groups of black keys on the piano. We talk about whether they have any friends who are twins and once they've answered I ask them what the names of the black key groups are again. If they remember, we're good to play copycat!
Play different rhythms on both of the twins (C# and D#), and ask the child to copy you. Can they copy the rhythm from the bottom set of twins all the way through to the top set?
If they find this easy, you could extend it to a Simon Says game:
- "Simon Says play a triplet up high"
- "Simon says play some twins in the middle"
- "Play some low twins"
This helps the student with their confidence in playing all over the piano!
Once the note values have been learnt, one of the best ways to put them into practice is to use rhythm cards! Give your student a bunch of rhythm cards and ask them to put them "in order" - again, a good time to discuss what 'order' means. There are a few variations to this game which get progressively harder:
- Clap along the row that your student lays out, while counting out loud - in the above example you could say "1, 1, 1-2, 1, 1-2, 1", clapping together on the '1's and whispering the '2's so the child knows not to clap when you whisper.
- Put on a song in the background and clap the rhythm again. Your student might be surprised that the rhythm goes well with any 4/4 time song! I like this song for kids this age - catchy and note too fast - and reinforces the alphabet yet again. They love it!
- You could clap a rhythm and ask the student to put the cards in order - this is a great one for developing their rhythm awareness. If they struggle to do this, you could count aloud over the top of your clapping, so they have a more obvious way to work it out.
One of the most fun games for exploring the sounds of the piano is using a story time set-up with animals.
Play some keys on the piano and ask the child to say whether they are high up or low down - change your tone of voice when you say high and low so they understand the difference! Then move into Story Time. Choose a few animals (you could print off some pictures or just talk about them) and ask your student where they might 'be' on the piano. A tiger? Low down! A little bird? High up! Play around with the notes to introduce things like speed and volume - can they scurry around quickly like a spider? Can they plod along slowly and loudly like an elephant? This game really helps to reinforce knowledge and bring a lot of fun to the lesson!
Extend this game by introducing the names of the clefs: Ask your student to draw the clefs out on paper, or follow a dot-to-dot line, and blu-tack them to the respective parts of the piano. Ask your student to high-five the clef which would match the animals you were using before!
Do you have a game you love to play with your 4 year olds? Please feel free to share it in the comments below! Everyone who comments will be entered into a draw to win my Enjoy Piano 2016/17 Planners + Flashcards! The winner will be announced Sunday 31st July at 3pm BST.
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