Pom-Pom Friends — A Sweet Reminder to Slow Down in Piano Lessons

Have you ever been reminded to slow waaaaay down in piano lessons?

That happened this week.

I’ve been wanting to use pom-poms as an off-bench activity for a while now — and finally did it!

We’ve been experimenting with touching a pom-pom using the fingertip, and picking them up using “doughnut” shapes:
🎯 1 and 3 together,
🎯 1 and 2,
(And yes, they want to try 1–4 and 1–5, but those happen less often — for obvious reasons!)

If you use My First Piano Adventures, this will sound familiar.

But what I didn’t expect…
was the level of sweetness that unfolded when one of my older students gently helped the younger one find the correct finger numbers. 💕

You can see it in this short clip:

Moments like this remind me that progress isn’t just about notes and rhythms. It’s about relationships, patience, and slowing down enough to notice how music connects us.

Their parents told me afterward that both kids now prefer piano over sports — and honestly, my heart just melted. 🥹

It’s easy to rush through technique or lesson plans, but sometimes the most powerful learning happens when we slow down… and let students learn from each other.