Teaching a 6-Year-Old with Everyday Objects: Real Lessons from My Studio
beginner piano, beginners, beginning piano Kay Lowry beginner piano, beginners, beginning piano Kay Lowry

Teaching a 6-Year-Old with Everyday Objects: Real Lessons from My Studio

Real piano lesson ideas using everyday objects—perfect for wiggly students, no-practice days, and young beginners. Read on for help from a real piano teacher!

Over the past week, I’ve been sharing a small video series on Instagram and YouTube — Day _ of 10: looking for everyday objects to teach a 6-year-old — and it’s been a meaningful reminder of something I’ve learned again and again over the years:

A lot of real learning happens without new music, worksheets, or elaborate plans.

I wanted to gather a few of those ideas here and share what’s been working in real lessons — the kind of lessons where you look at the student in front of you and adjust.

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My Solution for a Wiggly 6-Year-Old (and a No-Practice Piano Lesson That Actually Worked)
beginner piano, beginners, beginning piano, games, music education, Music theory game Kay Lowry beginner piano, beginners, beginning piano, games, music education, Music theory game Kay Lowry

My Solution for a Wiggly 6-Year-Old (and a No-Practice Piano Lesson That Actually Worked)

If you teach piano long enough, you know this lesson well.

The student arrives full of energy.
Practice didn’t happen.
Sitting still is clearly not an option.

Instead of forcing the piano bench, or nagging about counting out loud, this week I grabbed chalk and headed to my driveway.

And honestly?
It turned into a very productive activity. Not to mention her dad saw us as he came to pick her up. He was duly impressed!

A Simple Piano Hopscotch Game for Wiggly Students

I drew a hopscotch grid on the driveway and filled each square with something musical:

  • a simple note

  • a rest

  • or a piano key

Here’s how we played:

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