Introducing Curved Fingers to Young Children
At our preschool piano camp we wanted to teach the kids about curved fingers – but how can you make that a fun and understandable concept for 3- and 4-year-olds? I decided to take my usual bird’s nest analogy and add in a fun little visual to help them understand the concept. I found the idea for these cute little fuzzy birds on this blog (which actually is written by a fellow-piano major of mine from BYU) and decided they would be perfect for teaching about curved fingers!
The kids LOVED holding their little birds (which are made with the really BIG pom poms, so they fit perfectly in a little hand) in their curved-finger birds nest. They could easily see that if they flattened their fingers, their poor little bird would fall right out of the nest! We had a lot of fun with these little birds.
In what ways have you taught important piano concepts to young children in fun and creative ways?
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Dear Jenny,
I absolutely love your little bird pom-pom idea! I can imagine how fun and effective it is for young children first learning to make those little curved fingers. What a fantastic idea! Thanks for sharing it:)
What a cute idea! I will definitely have to remember that one. For my students that are a little older (7-8 range) that still struggle with curved fingers, I tell them to play 'on the tips of their fingers.' For some reason that visual seems to work better for them than saying 'curved'.
I like to use live baby chicks. We raise chickens, so when we have baby chicks around, my husband will often bring one into the house for my students to see. They love it!
Melody – that is awesome!! Wow, I would love to see a picture of that 🙂
Jenny! I'm so glad this was fun for your students! I love it and will do it with mine too. I linked up your post on my blog so others can see what great ideas you have!
So cute! I sometimes use the "spider push-ups" description: picture that your hand is a little spider- all the spider legs have to stay strong and curve out so the spider can do his push-ups!
Luba – I love that idea! What a great little visual. Thanks for sharing!
Fabulous idea! Thanks so much!