Your Young Students Will “Wiggle” With Glee With Our Loose Tooth Improv Activity

Our youngest daughter is six years old, which means that her teeth are falling out at a rapid rate. Every time we turn around she has another wiggly tooth. This leads to demonstrations of the “range of wigglyness” and discussions of tooth fairy visits.

A lost tooth is a momentous occasion for a young child – it’s “big news” in kid land. So, today we’re sharing an easy improv activity you can use with young piano students who have lost a tooth. The next time your student announces a “wiggler” or gleefully shows you a brand new, gap-toothed smile, pull out this printable and celebrate the occasion with some improv fun!

A Toothy Tune Improv Activity

If you’ve ever had a student with a wiggly tooth on your bench, you know how distracting it can be. So, turn your lesson into a celebratory day and make a big deal about the toothy news with this printable activity. Here’s how it works:

1. Print out our Toothy Tune Improv Cards and Teacher Duet Sheet found here.
2. Have your student “say and clap” the rhythms on the back of the improv cards and then choose her two favorite. We have included 3 blank cards in case your student wants to make up her own rhythms.
3. Have your student place her RH 2, 3 and 4 fingers on a group of three black keys.
4. Ask your your student to play various combinations of notes to match one of the selected rhythms from Step 2. Have her practice until she can play the rhythm matched with a melody accurately. This becomes “Rhythm/Melody One”.
5. Repeat Steps 3 and 4 with the second rhythm selected in Step 2. This becomes “Rhythm/Melody Two”.
6. Begin playing the teacher duet. Once your student is ready, instruct her to join in, playing Rhythm/Melody One over and over (in an octave that doesn’t interfere with your part).
7. Repeat Step 6 with your student playing Rhythm/Melody Two.
8. Repeat Step 6 with your student alternating between Rhythm/Melody One and Rhythm/Melody Two.

*When providing guidance, suggest simple, repetitive melodies to match the rhythms for ease of execution. As with any improv, some melodic choices will sound better than others… this is a great learning opportunity to discuss why this may be!

More Piano Improv = More Fun!

Looking for more improv activities to help your piano students find freedom and creativity on the keys? Check out our past Improv Activities below. We have improv activities for snowy days, Christmas, first day of school, Halloween, Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, birthdays and more! Get started with these: