Power Practice – Piano Playtime

Karen Lien Practice Power Practice

What are some fun and engaging ways you use to motivate your students or your child to practice? A parent of one of my students generously agreed to share some of her strategies. Let’s go visit her “piano playground” and have a wonderful “piano playtime” with squirrel, Zingo, school bus and more.

🐿 Sneaky Snacky Squirrel Piano Practice 🐿

We have enjoyed adapting this cute Sneaky Snacky children’s board game for piano practice. I give each song a coordinating color (5 colors/songs) and then each time my 5-year-old son practices the song (4x), he uses the Squirrel Squeeze to grab a matching acorn and stash it on the log. After filling up all 4 logs, the squirrel is full!

〽Zingo! Piano Practice〽

Piano practice is exciting when using Zingo!–a fast-paced Bingo type game. We use 4 Zingo! cards and take turns sliding the Zingo! Zinger to reveal picture tiles. For each tile matched, my child plays a song from the white board. After each board is filled, he yells “Zingo!”

Magnet Magic Piano Practice

My 5-year-old child has enjoyed practicing using our magnetic white board.

After he finishes practicing each song 2-4 times. he places a magnet of his choice in each circle.

If the circle is colored green, it means he watches a Piano Safari tutorial before practicing.

We had these magnets from a Melissa and Doug Responsibility Board

🚌 School Bus Piano Practice 🚌

At Target I found a cute $3 chore chart we have been using to make piano practice fun. The white board comes with two magnetic school buses and 8 open spaces. I covered the remaining 3 spaces used for Get Ready for School, Eat Dinner and Do Homework with blank magnets that can be written on–making a total of 11 stops for the school bus. Sometimes both buses take a trip around the neighborhood one at a time. In the picture shown just one bus is making a trip.