Piano Discovery Camp

I thought I would just share a few pictures of Piano Discovery Camp.  That camp (and the last of 3) finished up last week.  I had 8 campers this time and it was a wonderful group of 7 girls and 1 boy.  Although I have a definite plan for each day, I always start out the day with a coloring or craft activity so that kids who come early have something to do until everyone arrives.

On this particular day, they were coloring a picture of a little girl playing a piano (part of a nice set of pictures supplied by my piano technician). 

This particular camp is only 1 hour per day, but I try to pack in loads of activities because the attention span of 4-5 years old can be pretty short!  Like so many of my camps, I always include activities for rhythm, terminology and in this case, fingering and the musical alphabet.

One of the ways I reinforced note values was through a bit of a relay since active learning works so well! 

I found these fun buckets that stack within themselves and are perfectly numbered 1-4 so I picked up a couple of sets.  I made some note value cards (quarter note, half note, dotted half note and whole note) and gave each of the campers a set.






I stood near the buckets and called out a note name.  They had to run down and put the right card in the right bucket.  They loved the game so I switched it up a bit and had them play the "teacher" to see if I could do it also! 

And yes...I managed to pass!   

I always include physical activites since it keeps them attentive and I find they learn quicker when they're moving.

This picture shows an activity we did on the first day.  I simply made large (8 1/2" x 11") sheets each with a letter of the alphabet in different colors.  We practiced saying the musical alphabet together and then I scattered the letters and had them put them together in order and then in reverse.

They really loved this game and it sure was simple to put together!

 

Of course, we also had lots of time at the piano and with 8 kids I had to be a bit creative!   Thankfully I had help at this camp, so my friend, Becky kept them going on different activies while I took each child to the piano.  Besides making sure they were grasping what we were working on, I also use that time to evaluate whether I think they are ready for regular lessons. 

If you don't already put on a pre-piano camp. I hope you consider putting in the time.  They are so fun to do!  And spending time with these adorable little ones is so worth it.  They love the attention, love music and really learn quickly.

And when they tell you they "LOOOOVE music camp"..., it makes it all worth it!