How to teach your child piano at home: a plan for the first month

A parent can start a child on the piano at home, even without being able to play. The first month is about four things: finding the way around the keys, keeping a steady beat, playing a few tunes with five fingers, and making it a daily habit. This page gives a plan for four weeks, at five to ten minutes a day.

What you need

• A piano or a keyboard. Full-size keys are best. Read piano or keyboard for a beginner.
• A seat at the right height. With hands on the keys, the forearms should be level with the floor. Add a cushion if needed.
• A footstool or a box, so that short legs do not dangle.
• The piano keyboard chart, printed and standing behind the keys.
• A set time each day. After breakfast or before dinner works for many families.

Week 1: get to know the keyboard

Goal: your child can find any C and knows high from low.

• Twos and threes. Find every group of two black keys, and then every group of three. Play them with flat fingers.
• High and low. Play far to the right and far to the left. Ask which sounds like a bird and which sounds like a bear.
• Find C. C is the white key to the left of each group of two black keys. Find them all.
• Finger numbers. Thumbs are 1, and little fingers are 5. Call out a number, and your child wiggles that finger on both hands.
• Sit well. Feet flat, back tall, fingers curved as if holding a small ball.

Week 2: five fingers and a steady beat

Goal: your child can play one tune with the right hand and clap a steady beat.

• Place the right hand. Thumb on middle C, and one finger on each key up to G.
• Walk up and down. Play C, D, E, F, G and back, one finger for each key, saying the letters.
• First tune. Learn “Hot Cross Buns.” See first piano songs for kids.
• Beat game. Clap along with a favorite song. Then march to it.
• Loud and soft. Play the tune like an elephant, and then like a mouse.

Week 3: the left hand and long notes

Goal: your child can play a tune with each hand and can hold a note for the right number of beats.

• Place the left hand. Little finger on the C below middle C, and one finger on each key up to G.
• Mirror the right hand. Play “Hot Cross Buns” with the left hand.
• Second tune. Learn “Mary Had a Little Lamb” with the right hand.
• Long and short. Clap and count: a one-beat note, a two-beat note, and a four-beat note. Read note values explained.
• Hands together. Play C with both thumbs at once. Then play the first three notes of a tune with both hands.

Week 4: first steps in reading

Goal: your child can name three notes on the staff and can play a tune from start to finish for an audience.

• Meet the staff. Five lines and four spaces. Notes sit on a line or in a space. Higher on the staff means higher on the piano.
• Three notes. Learn middle C, D, and E in the treble clef. Read how to read music for parents.
• Third tune. Learn “Ode to Joy.”
• Family concert. At the end of the week, your child bows, plays three tunes, and bows again.

How a session goes

Keep each session to five or ten minutes.

1. Warm up. Walk up and down the five keys.
2. Review. Play something already learned.
3. New thing. Work on one small new step.
4. Free play. Let your child make up anything they like.
5. Stop while it is still fun.

Tips that help

• Sit beside your child, not across the room.
• Praise the effort. “You tried that three times and got it.”
• When something is hard, make the task smaller. Two notes are a task.
• Never end on a struggle. Go back to something easy for the last minute.
• Skip a day without guilt when someone is sick or worn out. Start again the next day.

Read how to get kids to practice music without a fight and practice games for young music students.

What is hard for a parent to teach

A parent can teach the keys, the beat, and the first tunes. Some things are hard to spot without training.

• Tension in the wrists, the shoulders, or the thumbs
• Fingers that collapse at the joint
• A hand position that will limit speed later
• Reading skills past the first few notes

Habits set early. A teacher who sees your child even once a month can catch these.

When to find a teacher

• Your child asks for more than you can give.
• The first month went well, and the habit is in place.
• You see stiff hands or hear your child playing by guessing.

Read how to choose a music teacher and best age to start piano lessons.

If you want a book

A beginner’s method book gives you the next six months, a page at a time. Read piano method books compared. If you do not read music yourself, read how to help with practice when you cannot read music.

Print and play

For the same ground as ten short lessons, read the first ten piano lessons. Print the piano keyboard chart and a 30-day practice chart. Color one box for each day at the piano.

For more on lessons, see music lessons for kids: a parent’s guide.