Lesson Plans For Kids: Preparation

Category: Lesson Plans for Kids

I know I’ve touched on the topic of teaching children in previous posts, but I thought it would be fun to have a series of posts designed to help parents and teachers come up with fun ways to teach their students and children. Children are able to learn the most when you are able to keep them engaged in the material. How do you do that? Well, you make it fun!

So, I’m going to prepare some lesson plans, and hopefully some additional downloadable material that can be incorporated into lesson plans for kids.

Before we get started there may be some basic supplies that you will want to consider:

1. A whiteboard - What classroom wouldn’t be complete without a whiteboard? It’s fun to write on, and easy to erase. A great way to provide visual stimulation. Get funky with the colours.
2. A computer – The internet is wonderful for so many reasons – there is a plethora of resources available to you and your child.
3. A method book - This may be Alfred’s or Bastien, or another method. You may choose not to use a method series, but I would recommend getting the books either way. At the very least they will provide you with songs for practicing, even if you choose not to follow their method.
4. Assignment books – This could be a notebook, or journal that you would use to coordinate assignments and progress on a weekly basis.
5. Achievement Awards – Depending on the age of child you are teaching, this could be any number of things. Some ideas are: ribbons, stickers, certificates, knick knacks, pencils, erasers, etc. These are intended to reward the child for their achievement.
6. Flash Cards – Flash cards are a fun way to do musical drills and memorization work.
7. Blank Staff Paper – Blank paper can be downloaded from any number of places. For teaching children, you want to make sure the staff is big enough for them to use.

These items will probably give you a good head start in your teaching ventures. If a specific lesson requires anything extra, I’ll mention it  in the lesson plan outline. If you have any ideas that I can use for this series, please reply with a comment or email me.

photo credit: Forty Two.

Teaching piano to little munchkins

Category: Practice and Performance

photo credit: fofurasfelinas

Teaching piano to children has its own set of challenges and rewards. In a previous post I talked about how to know whether your child is ready to play the piano. The next thing you need to know is the types of challenges that you will face… such as… how do you make practice fun? how do you know that your child is learning? how do you ensure that your child gets the most out of their music lesson?

Children generally have shorter attention spans than adults, so it is important to break up the lesson into fun, manageable activities.  For children ages 4-6 I would recommend a lesson from 15 minutes up to 1/2 hour long – depending on the attention span of the child.  Each child is different.

So how do you make practice fun?  Well, take a lesson from modern early childhood education.  I love talking with my teacher friends and finding out all about the fun activities that they plan for their classrooms.  Have a repetoire of activities that you can practice with your child.  This can include flash cards, note recognition games, clap-back games, and more!  Fire up your creative juices! (Or take a page from my book and take advantage of google.)

Apparently I have a short attention span too.  We’ll continue this thread later – until next time!

What is the best age start learning piano?

Category: Methods, Miscellaneous, Practice and Performance

A lot of parents aren’t sure when they should start sending their child to piano lessons.  Children who are too young may not have the attention span and may not benefit from piano lessons.  Children who are too old – well, there is no such thing as too old.  OK, so when is the BEST time to start?  To be honest, this depends greatly on the child.  If you are thinking of enrolling your child in piano lessons, run through the following questions first.

1. Are YOU committed to it?

Children naturally have a shorter attention span than adults.  If your child is to get the most out of piano lessons, the parents must be committed to it 100%.  You must set aside time for your child to practice, and be sure that your child adheres to the practice schedule.  You must be committed to driving your child to practice every week, and footing all of the costs that result from that.

2. Does my child know their ABCs / Can my child read?

Although this is not a requirement, it makes reading music less of a stretch.  They should be able to count and sound out words based on the letters of the alphabet.  Again, this is not a requirement, but your child will get the most out of piano lessons if they have this basic foundation of knowledge.

3. Does my child demonstrate some manual dexterity?

Observe your child at play.  Notice whether he or she has the capability of fine movement (placing pieces in a puzzle, doing up buttons, etc).  If they are starting to write or draw, this would be a good indication that they have the dexterity necessary to play the piano keys.

4. Is my child interested in playing piano?

Talk to your child about piano lessons and gauge their interest.  You can make your child to go to piano lessons, but it will not be very rewarding for either of you if no one is having fun.  Not to mention, it is very difficult to force your child to learn something they are not interested in.  Make sure that learning the piano is something that interests your child.

5. Will my child be able to sit through a half-hour lesson?

30 minutes is a standard duration for a beginner piano lesson.  Does your child have the attention span to sit through an entire half hour?  Many piano teachers who are used to working with young children will have techniques to keep the child engaged for the entire half hour.  This can include fun activities such as marching and clapping, jumping up and down to a beat, or singing.  Before you commit to a piano teacher, ask what techniques they use to keep young children interested.

Well, if you made it through all of these questions, you can gauge for yourself whether your child (and your family) is ready for piano lessons.  The earliest I would ever recommend someone learning piano is at the age of 4, and that is still quite young.  Generally, children around the age of 6-7 are in a good position to make the most of piano lessons.  But again, it all depends – look for the signs, and you can’t go wrong.