Early Childhood Music

Finger Number Beanbag Game

Pinterest is wonderful, isn’t it?  🙂

While browsing Pinterest, I was inspired by this picture by the blogger Becki Lewis.  Becki’s Finger Number Beanbag Game is a simple but very effective game for young beginner piano students.

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Students stand in front of the mat and drop the beanbag.  Then, they name the finger the beanbag landed closest to, and correctly identify RH or LH.  I tried this game out with my Piano Readiness Class, and they enjoyed it!  It is a quick, easy activity that effectively reviews the hands/fingers.

Becki used a marker and a piece of cardboard to draw the outline of two hands.  I designed a printable on the computer to use with my students, and Becki gave me permission to share the printable with you here: visit the Printables > Games page, and scroll down to the F’s for “Finger Number Beanbag Game.”  I laminated the two pages and taped them together, so that they fold for easy storage.  Enjoy!

  Finger Number Beanbag Game (177.7 KiB, 17,995 hits)

Early Childhood Music, Games, Group Classes, Printables

Beginner Piano Game: Piano Hands Hunt

I have two 5-year-old students signed up for a Piano Readiness Class, and our first class was yesterday!  We had such a fun time.  We sang songs, listened to music to find/walk to the beat, traced our hands to learn about RH/LH/finger numbers, and more.  Best of all, we played the Piano Hands Hunt game — a simple game I invented on a whim yesterday as I was lesson planning.  It was quite a hit!  The girls asked to play it again next week — a request I’m happy to oblige!

Just added to the Printables > Games page:

Piano Hands Hunt — a music game for 2-6 players.  This simple game is intended for use with young beginners/elementary level students to help them learn RH versus LH, and the finger numbers for piano.  Continue reading “Beginner Piano Game: Piano Hands Hunt”