The calendar flipped over this past weekend and my thermometer took a dive. That officially brought me out of summer mode and sent me scurrying for my October Fun Files!
Nothing re-energizes piano students (and piano teachers!) better than a fun theme and a break from routines.
And while we have a bunch of new and exciting things for October to share with you on the blog this month, we thought it would be handy to start the month off by rounding up some Halloween fun that we’ve created in the past. So… prep your printers or put those Staples employees on standby… because October in your studio is going to be frightfully fun!
A Goody Bag of Printables For Halloween
Have you noticed that your piano kids are a bit “low energy” lately? The excitement and novelty of school has worn off, extracurricular activities are well under way… and everyone has a cold. So It’s time to push the rocket booster button and pump up the piano lesson fun…
And these printables from TeachPianoToday are a great start:
Halloween Improv Activity: This is a quick and easy way to bring some creativity into your piano lessons. Even if you’ve never taught improv before, this activity is easy to prep and even easier to teach! Surprise your piano students with the chance to find freedom on the keys with our Halloween Improv Activity.
While you’re on the creativity train, it’s a great time to bring out our Halloween Composing activity. Designed for your young piano students, it provides not only composing fun but also enjoyable sight-reading practice!
Now that your piano students are happily groovin’ on the bench… it’s a great time to bring out our Monster Mash-Up Piece! With a pair of scissors, some tape and an excited piano student, you can create a gazillion different combinations of monster-themed fun in this unique freebie piece.
Phew! It’s impossible to avoid the fall mood now! Let’s keep it going with this cool Halloween-themed piano game. Get off the bench and have some game-based fun… there’s no better relationship-building than in-person game play (and pssst…. students really, really remember their theory when they’re playing a game!)
Fall-Themed Piano Repertoire Is Here!
Our newest release from PianoBookClub, The Mysterious Case of Chewtwig van Beaverton, is the perfect Early Elementary level resource for October. With an interactive piano mystery to solve and seven Early-Elementary stepping and skipping focused pieces (each paired with a teacher duet!) it’s a slam-dunk… even if your kids don’t participate in Halloween! If you’re prepping for a fall recital these student/teacher duets are your answer for the littlest ones in your studio. Get on board with PianoBookClub here.
Laughing because I searched your blog pages for all these last week and now they’re all ready and waiting….and they’re all brilliant, thank you so much!
Hi Elaine – you’re so welcome! As I sorted through my own stuff I was thinking “Hmmm… these need to be in one place…” 😉 Hope you have fun with them!
Woohoo!!! Just got a notification of your email in my inbox. All I read was printables for October and I turned on my printer rigt away without even having read through the blog yet! So excited for all this as I have October group classes next week with my students. This will be great stuff to add to my lessons! Thank you!!!
Go Benita go! 🙂 Have a fun class next week! More great stuff to come too…
This is wonderful! Thank you so much! Perfect for my young and not-so-young improvisers and composers. Can’t wait to use them this month. I hope something like this will come out for Christmas, and other holidays too.
Hi Irma – we love holidays and so yes, you can absolutely expect lots of fun in the coming months 🙂
Oh Andrea and Trevor…you know how you feel RIGHT before that first sip of coffee? Like, it’s gonna be SO good in a few moments? That’s how I feel when an email comes from you guys. Like the moment before the first sip of coffee. Thanks again for all you do for this profession!
LOL Kelly – thrilled to be your morning “Piano Java” 😉 Thanks for your kind words and the giggle.
Thank you for these, they will definitely help my students get out of the fall blues!
Thank you so much! What a fun month October will be with these activities!
It’s refreshing for everyone isn’t it Nancy?! 🙂
The monster mashup has been my favourite so far! I stuck it in some page protectors and then got some Velcro dots from the dollar store so students could easily put measures on the music wherever they pleased. They have so much fun sight reading it that they don’t realize that it is sight reading!!
What a great idea to use velcro dots! Love it – thanks for sharing Amy and so glad that you’ve got great use out of the piece 🙂