Piano Games For Kids

by john aschenbrenner August 5, 2023

Piano games for kids are used to defuse the frustration that is inevitable in a child's piano lesson, or as a means of making curriculum more palatable. For example, if a child is confused and frustrated with reading music, you can play games that touch upon various elements of reading music.

Or you can play a game that has nothing to do with reading music, but is simply enjoyable. Usually, piano games are designed to relieve tension and are thus necessarily simple. Some are physical, and involve, say, wiggling the fingers away from the keyboard to increase awareness of the fingers.

Games for the Piano

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Examples of Piano Games

Here are some examples of physical games:

QUARTERS: Put a quarter or other coin on the back of the child's hand. Ask them to play any simple pattern or song, and see if they can keep the quarter from falling off.

Chordomatic Game

CHORDOMATIC: Having taught several chords to a child, (I use two note chords) then challenge them to a race to see who can find the chord first.

PIANO DICE GAME: Teach six simple, familiar songs (Twinkle, Twinkle, or Jingle Bells.) Then, assign a number to each song (1 - 6) and roll the dice. The child must play the song corresponding to the number on the dice they have thrown. There are many other games found in GAMES FOR THE PIANO. See also our Piano Fun and Games Section, which has many online games for kids.

Perhaps the best piano games are those which are the simplest. Play a few of those on our online piano below.

Fours
The child plays each key four times, using any finger.
| 1 1 1 1 | 2 2 2 2 | 3 3 3 3 | 4 4 4 4 |
| 5 5 5 5 | 6 6 6 6 | 7 7 7 7 | 8 8 8 8 |

Threesies
The child plays the keys below, using only the first three fingers.
| 1 2 3 | 2 3 4 | 3 4 5 | 4 5 6 | 5 6 7 | 6 7 8 |

The Nature of Piano Games for Kids

Piano games are necessarily simplified to the point of abstraction. Since playing the piano is a very intense intellectual experience, games must be almost mindless. This allows the child to decompress and simply have fun with musical materials. Games are essential to a child's enjoyment of the piano. Without them the piano is drudgery, especially to the youngest kids.