If you’re teaching piano lessons during the summer months then it’s likely that you are on the hunt for fun activities that will keep your piano students motivated, excited and… learning!
So, if you’re scratching your head (or spending endless hours on Pinterest searching for ideas) relax… we’ve got you covered! One of our favorite things to do on this blog is to make the lives of piano teachers easier. So, grab a lemonade because your summer planing just got a whole lot easier!
Piano Teachers Share Their Summer Lesson Ideas
When we first published this post we put it out to the wonderfully creative bunch of teachers that make up the TeachPianoToday community and asked them to share one idea that they have used in summer piano lessons that was an absolute blast.
The response was amazing and the result is 65+ incredibly creative ideas that you can pick and choose from to incorporate into your summer piano lessons!
To find the summer piano lesson ideas, read through the comments below. And, if you’re still searching for more summer fun, check out our popular summer-themed piano teaching posts below.
16 Amazing Summer Piano Projects … That Will Take YOU Less Than 5 Minutes to Plan
I have a giant keyboard sound mat that we take outside and play “Mozart says” which is very much like “Simon says”.
Hi, Susan! That sounds like fun! Can you share where you lurched the mat?
We play “drop the needle” (yes I have to explain that to the cd/mp3 crowd) and write the titles on the fence in sidewalk chalk. Sometimes we do that with the songs they’ve played in their books if they don’t have enough of a classical music vocabulary.
I’m definitely in! Think I’ll create a little study sheet with just a few melodies, maybe 7.
Though, I don’t have a place where they can write with chalk. Might think up little prizes, like a small cookie.
One activity I have planned for this summer is outdoor music twister! Each circle is a different musical term or symbol, for example “Right hand on fortissimo!” This activity is especially perfect for me as I live in Ireland where it could rain any minute, and I can easily take the twister mat back inside if it does!
did you buy this or make it? i want one!
I draw a chalk staff on the fence and everyone comes by and adds a measure. I snap a pic and write it out. It’s usually really terrible but we take the pieces part and build a separate song from that. It’s really interesting to see who feels moved by a section and what direction they take it!
That is AMAZING
I am going to try something similar
I found a game yesterday that I thought would be fun to try – music bowling! With a portable plastic bowling set, Velcro music letters to each bowling pin; student knocks down as many pins as possible in 2 tries. Then student takes pins that are knocked down and matches them to homemade keyboard flashcards with the correct key (marked with an x or a dot). Give them a time limit for even more fun!
Chalk+water balloons! With chalk, draw things on the sidewalk you want your students to identify – musical symbols, rhythmic values, etc. Have your student identify a symbol of choice and then toss a water balloon to try to erase it. Hit something else instead of the originally identified symbol? Name that one, too!
I can’t wait to try this at my workshop in July. How fun!
This is the first time I’ll be offering summer lessons, so these ideas are awesome! I knew I wanted to shake things up over the vacation, but just wasn’t quite sure how to get started. Another idea might be to take a listening session outside….crank up the Beethoven or Mozart (or jazz or anything) while lying on a blanket watching the clouds roll by. Discuss the music – what emotions it evokes, images it brings to mind, technical aspects, etc…I imagine the responses would be quite different than what I’d hear indoors, sitting at the piano!
I love this for a quiet, last activity. Sort of a sensitivity training exercise!
I have 16×16″ foam squares which I line up in a hopscotch formation- “sol” or “five” or “G” is two of the squares side by side so that they have a place to rest before going up to to the top square where they turn around to descend. Kinesthetic workout to review diatonic letter names, solfege, and intervals. Also, students could toss a bean bag to a square-let’s say it lands on the “4th” and then:
1. they jump on “1,” and sing the beginning pitch *”one”
2. they hop two,three, (remaining silent, yet use their inner hearing to continue in sequence until landing on “4” they sing the fourth. They then repeat in reverse to sing the interval descending.
A couple of my students have been asking about the next recital (the last one was such a long time ago, at the end of April!) so I’ve been thinking of setting up my keyboard in the front porch and having a week of outdoor music. We have a number is passersby on our street, so there would be a regular audience. As long as the neighbors don’t mow the lawn at that time, we should be good!
We have a set of six very wide stairs outside my studio. These are perfect for stepping up and down, and sometimes we “sightstep” our music (instead of sight reading!)
We draw staff lines down my driveway and then have “word challenge” or Spelling Bee naming what we’ve drawn. Love the idea of water balloons to erase. That would be so much fun. Kinda bet my boys would accidentally hit me instead of the driveway! Ha!
At a private lesson, Draw a very large chalk staff on the driveway. Have the student bounce a basketball on the notes you call out.
I haven’t played staff twister outside yet, but it would be fun: I try to make the student fall by calling out things like, “Put your Right hand on middle C, put your right foot on treble A, put your left hand on treble F, put your left foot on Bass C.” It’s a lot of fun!
I love these ideas so far! This summer at our music camp we are going to do Chinese Jump Rope . Just as a chance to get the kids outside and having fun. Two people stand with a huge stretchy band around their legs and the third jumps and does patterns over and around the band, trying to keep a steady beat. A video search on youtube will probably provide better examples than me trying to explain it. 🙂
Oh my gosh. When I was little I loved playing ‘china rope’ (what we call it in South Africa)
We used to make ours out of old stocking s cut into strips and tied together.
I bet this would be really fun if you called out notes like crotchet and they have to into the middle, minim and they have to jump over both, dotted minim and they jump over two and cross the first over the second, etc
awesome! 🙂
I’ve taught summer piano camp for a few years now and we’ve liked rhythm band, (make drums from buckets), Grand Staff Dodge Ball, (the kids are the notes and the other kids have to call out the note they’ve hit, (use a giant sponge soaked in water), etc, etc.
In the summer, I take my students for a “nature’s treasure hunt” during their lesson. Afterwards, we talk about the “treasure” and then write a composition using my “4 card” composition method. It’s fun, we connect with the great outdoors and we compose!!
Could you go into more detail about the “treasure” and your “4 card” composition?
I played a game outside with a couple of students yesterday. We drew a big grand staff on the ground with chalk, then they took turns rolling a die that I had customized with letters of the musical alphabet (since it was a 6-sided die one side said “F or B”). Whichever letter they rolled they had to draw on the staff using quarter notes with the stems pointing in the correct direction. No place on the staff could be used more than once (ie. if they rolled “C” but the other student had already drawn a middle C they would have to pick a different C). I limited them to notes from G at the bottom of the bass staff to G at the top of the treble staff. Each student used a different colour of chalk. At the end we counted who had the most notes and they won. There is an element of skill (if you draw a wrong note it gets X’ed out and doesn’t count, or if you give up and can’t find that note on the staff), and luck (if you roll a “D” and all the Ds have already been drawn on the staff then you skip your turn). The kids had fun! 🙂
You guys are awesome, thanks SO much for sharing all this wonderful stuff!
I draw a chalk circle on the pavement in my driveway, and draw different note values, depending on the level of the class. We have a beanbag that gets passed around (like “hot potato”!), and the children take turns throwing the beanbag onto one of the note values from outside the circle. Whichever note value is closest to where the beanbag lands is one they have to clap and say (“tah-AH! tah-AH!” or whatever!) after I give them a four-count measure.
Thanks again!! I’m a fan!
At the conclusion of a play party (where all the students announce who they are, talk about the piece they’re playing, and then perform. We also play various music games.) we had ‘musical chair cookies’. I had cookies made that looked like a section of the keyboard with a red x on a key. We sat in a big circle. I gave each child a plate w/ a cookie ‘glued’ to it with frosting. They had to name the note. No touching the cookie of course. Then I displayed a note value or combination of notes. They had to as a group decide how many counts the notes had. Together we counted as we passed the cookies to the right for that amount of counts. Then they each had to name the new note in front of them. Repeat until we’re all hungry. 🙂
This game could be called “Terms Basketball”.
Materials needed are music terms or symbols to suit the students’ level, and a basketball with a net (if you don’t have a basketball and net, you can also take a laundry basket and small balls or socks).
Line the kids up. The first child has to tell the definitions of 3 music terms or symbols that the teacher reads or shows them. However many the child gets right equals how many basketball shots they get to take (right after they answer all 3). When they take their shots, record how many baskets they make. Then it’s the next child’s turn….and repeat until all kids have had a turn. Do a couple rounds of this, and whomever has the most baskets during the game gets to read the terms for the next game (and the teacher takes the place of the student who is now reading the terms) I hope this make sense because it is lots of fun!
I love the idea of drawing a chalk staff and having the student bounce a ball on the correct note. I will be trying that this summer with my students.
Old fashioned Musical Chairs! (Musical Maestro Chairs)
A few lessons before summer, kids are aware that anyone who learns to play the “musical chairs” piano song (whatever you choose) well enough for the game, will be able to be the “Maestro” and play the song on the keyboard (plugged in on the front porch) for the musical chairs game. Draw a name to decide who gets to be the Maestro first. Whoever wins the first round gets to be the Maestro for the next round. The fun part is, the Maestro gets to decide when to start and stop playing the music during the game for everyone to rush to sit on a chair. Just as kids love being “Simon” in Simon Says, they’ll love being Maestro too.
P.S. It doesn’t have to be the same song each time, just whatever song suits each kid’s level. Something decided upon before the summer game, to encourage them to work on that certain piece.
If the levels of different tunes are at an easy-reading level for the group, you could have them sightread! Love this! You could even make sure that everyone gets a turn at the piano. (Or violin, or….sightsing?)
Myself and my students are taking a musical vacation around the world. They get to learn pieces from different countries around the world and everytime we finish a piece we stamp there musical passport ! This idea was not my own but another very creative and brilliant teachers idea which I loved when I heard about it. The students I’m teaching, love this idea.
I play this in the summer or for a halloween piano party…
Bobbing for apples – piano style!
All the apples are hanging from the clothes line with a sticky label on the string….there is a music term on the label….I give them another sticky label and they have to match it to one of the hanging apples, name it and then bite it (and eat it up!)
They go nuts for this activity!!
************Concert & Picnic in the Yard!***********
This year we are planning on doing a summer concert/picnic in our backyard. We just did this for the spring concert and the kids LOVED it! We set up a keyboard and sound system on our back patio, and then parents brought picnic blankets or tables & dinner, and enjoyed some nice music while they ate. We provided cupcakes for dessert. You probably want to clear it with your neighbors first. ; ) It was a fun, low key way to do a recital.
We did the same this past weekend, Lisa. Called it our Garden Party Recital. Potluck desserts, coffee, tea and juice. But, we held off on eating until the performance was over! 😀
1. Choose a piece of music with high contrast sections and outline the form together. For each section, assign a different parachute move. (up & down, make waves, etc.) Crank up the music really loud and see if you can all follow the form with the correct moves. If you don’t have a parachute, you could substitute dance moves.
2. The more advanced students are performing at our local farmers’ market a few times – performances motivate!
Set up the electric keyboard in the backyard with an extension cord, and let the sights, sounds, tastes, smells, and touches inspire improvisation and composing. Focus on one particular sense at a time, such as the sight of clouds sailing across the sky, the sound of birds chirping or a truck on a distant highway or dogs barking or even neighborhood children laughing (or screaming!), the smell of the garden dirt or a flower (or doggie doo!), the taste of honeysuckle juice or a wild blackberry, the touch of a caterpillar or tree bark or creek water or a roly-poly (pill bug) crawling on the palm of your hand. The list is endless for improv and composing inspiration! Do this once a month (or every week) and before long you will be able to record an entire CD of original “Backyard Improvisations!” Won’t your friends be so impressed!!
I like using old-time playground rhymes for rhythm & notation games… Making a Rhythm Maze in chalk where each square (in hopscotch or maze formation) contains note value (quarter, 2 eighths, what have you) so that the whole maze notates a short rhyme (“Anna Banana…played the piana…”). Level 1–recite the rhyme while hopscotching the rhythm….Level 2–match one of 2 or 3 printed rhymes to notation on maze & hopscotch to figure it out & demonstrate…level 3—choose (or compose) a rhyme & notate your own chalk maze.
Grab one of your old tarps, or splurge on a “Piano only” one 😀
Once you have your tarp, you cut shapes into it at various places. Once you hang it up you automatically have a ball toss. Now just add pictures or drawings of music themed notes/theory/etc. and then ask your students to throw the ball through the shape of the appropriate shape. (e.g. which one is the Repeat Sign?) One thing that is particularly fun with this activity is that you can make the shapes various sizes. Smaller sizes will count for more points/the piano note/theory could also be harder too. You can do this for a piano camp since the shapes/theory can be given based on experience or age 🙂
One other fun way to shake it up is to use water balloons instead of a ball!!!
They sell sun glasses at Dollar World! Give each child a pair when they come for a lesson, plug the synthesizer to an outdoor socket on or near the patio and have them play their songs on it. Then use the last 15 minutes for “dessert” and play music they can dance to just for fun. Play a few songs with a snappy beat then end with a slow one so they are not puffing when their parents come.
What fun!!!
We will be making a water wall for the kids. We are using Handel’s water music for inspiration and the kids will be able to experiment with different pitches and sounds as well as create their own water music!
what is a water wall?
We study form and repetition with dances or games with Parachutes , streamers and hoops. Artie Alemieda has a great resource for this. They are easy to make up yourself once you have tried a few of someone elses. Two favorites are WIld Horses with Stick ponies of different colors for the A and B sections, or all horses gallop on A and stop for a drink on B.
They also love Trepak Dance with the parachute which is exhaustingly fun and ends with us all under the parachute on the last beat.
We also make plenty of use of all my Music Mind Games materials from Michiko Yurko. Fun Stuff!
My husband and I have been trying to figure out the best way to have an outdoor recital in our backyard this summer. It would definitely give the students inspiration to practice as the neighbors would hear the performance. Many of my students like the idea as it would be a relaxed atmosphere. Hope we can get the logistics worked out. I’ve also done rhythm and staff games (steps and skips) with side walk chalk.
I’ve already had students ask about being outside, so next week the keyboard is going out. Focus will be on creating simple accompaniments to a familiar melody and playing with different sounds.
I teach them a musical during the week and we perform it for the parents Friday afternoon. We make our own costumes and backdrop. It’s so much fun!!
One game my kids loved playing last year was a relay where they were split into teams. Using a jump rope the first person would run down to a piece of chalk on the sidewalk. They’d have to draw a whole note, after returning to the line the next person would have to turn it into a half, then next was quarter and then eighth. The kids LOVED this and begged to do it over and over.
I’m trying this!!!
We like to have tempo races outside…one time we race at an adagio speed, one time at allegro, etc. You can use whichever tempos you are studying. It’s also a good review. Works best with siblings or more than one student.
I find learning their tempo words is often not done well. By acting them out – or walk/running them out-students use their big muscles to remember, especially all those “A” words!
We always have an end-of-summer group party, and after the students play for each other, we play some sort of game. My students are always wanting to move the keyboard outside to the front porch, so this summer I am planning on doing that to entertain the neighborhood!
I have made up cards with different tempos and articulations. A card is drawn and everyone follows that student acting out that card – follow the leader style.
Oh another one – two teams, one person from each teams faces off with a water gun. I show card with a note of the staff, and the first one to name the note gets to shoot the other one. They must tell me the name first and then once I say it is correct they can shoot. Often they get so excited they shoot while naming it out. This is especially fun to play if the parents are a part of the class then of course it is children against parent. The last round I let each student challenge me!
Love ANYTHING with water!!
We play a variation of What Time is It Mr. Wolf: “What beat is it Mr. Bass/ Miss Treble” in our groups. The group asks “What Beat is it Mr. Bass/Miss Treble”. The “Wolf” calls out rhythm values (with their back turned), which tells the students how many steps they can take. When the Wolf suspects someone is about to cross the line behind them, he/she calls out “Jam Time” and we all play our air guitars/drums/voices, etc. If someone crosses the line without the wolf seeing, they get to be the next wolf. Often there is not a real winner…but everyone loves the jam time…win win!
Create an “outdoor band” by having kids find items outdoors that can make a sound. Examples could be: rocks, sticks, leaves, lawn furniture, picnic tables, pails, etc. Then, do “drum circle” activities where students improvise together with their sounds. Students could also read rhythm patterns and play them on their found instruments. Students/teams could write patterns to play. Short patterns could be played as ostinato; longer patterns could be played over the ostinato patterns.
Thanks for all these excellent suggestions!!! Never enough time for games!!! And, always could use a few more!
For Music Camp one year, the kids played a rhythm game using pylons set up from Point A to Point B (about 25-50 feet apart, depending upon age, etc.). They looked at a measure of rhythm on a flashcard we’d been studying (choose your level) – ran to Point B and clapped the rhythm back. If they were correct, they ran back and it was the next person’s turn. If not, they tried again. If they were incorrect a second time, they were shown the rhythm and clapped it back before returning. You could play this as teams.
My studio carpet turns into a giant grand staff for beanbag toss, note naming races, etc. New this summer are practice bead chains of the crafty kind – like cool washer necklaces you would make at camp!
Oh my gosh! THANK all of you for these super fun ideas! I am so wowed I cant think of anything I have done that is better, and I cant wait to try some of these this summer. You all rock! (I am getting excited to put these together for summer).
We play Rhythm Baseball. The teacher “pitches” a rhythm by clapping it. The student “batter” claps the rhythm back. If they do it perfectly on the first try, they get a home run. If they get it on the 2nd try, it’s a second base hit; and on the 3rd try, it’s a first base hit. Three strikes and they’re out!
Okay. Here is a very fun piano game every kid will love, a game to get the most candy as possible (or other summer goodies). It works best when there are five students playing, but could work with any more than two!
A basket of candy sits in the middle of your backyard! There are five other baskets around the backyard, empty, and all an equal distance away from the first bag. Each basket is one student’s “base” (or bass). One parent is at each bass too. When the teacher blows the whistle, it’s game on. The students run from their basses straight to the pot of candy in the middle, grabbing one. They quickly run back to their basses and put the candy in their basket. BUT NOT SO FAST! The parent standing their asks them a piano-lessons question first. IF they get it right, in to the basket the candy goes. If not, It’s back to the middle. But here’s the cool part. You can also STEAL from the other contestants! Run to their basket, answer a general knowledge question, and you have some of their candies! Whoever has the most candy at the end is crowned the winner!
And, the game helps you learn those tricky theory questions, because you can’t put a candy in until you get the question. Feel free to give clues, parents.
We are doing a popular music/movie music focus. After recital and festivals, it is a fun way to keep the kids motivated.
Last year for a group lesson we played outside games including racing to spell words on a sidewalk chalk staff and tossing wet sponges down a line in interval scale fashion. The first person in line is the tonic note and they toss back and forth in order to their team in a line calling out “A 2nd, a 3rd, a 4th, a 5th, a 4th , a 3rd, a 2nd.” For the next round the teacher calls out an interval and teams race to toss the sponge to the correct interval(person) first. To ramp up the challenge you could have them shout out the name of a song that starts with the interval as well.
We will play croquet – draw a card out of the deck – identify the interval and that is how many hits you get.
Next is cornhole- use the Alfred music cards – identify the card you draw take a turn for your team. If can’t identify then someone on your team can help. .:)
*********Summer Piano Camp***********
There will be centers set up. Upon arriving, students will create musical name tags (foam, stickers, markers); rhythm name game; make keyboard/staff board (including dynamic signs, note values, etc.) which will be laminated for use as music board game; rhythm echoes using maracas/castanets/egg shakers; rhythm games (moving toward what is heard [quarter note, half note, dotted half note, whole note] – stepping to the beat); musical alphabet noodle relay, ring toss, rhythm beanbag toss, musical alphabet shooting gallery (using nerf gun); instrument circle (students rotating in a clockwise circle after “freezing”), and, of course, a snack break in the middle of all the fun.