March Break Piano Challenge

1 week to go!!  I am totally ready for March Break to be here.  Don't get me wrong, I love my students and I love working hard for them but it seems like a long time since the Christmas holidays and I am excited for the time off :-)

I am always looking for fun ways to teach piano... I often play games, do worksheets and encourage practice in a variety of ways so that the kids can truly find something that works for them and means that they enjoy playing as well as learn from it.    In teaching my main aim is for children to learn to love music, not only the specific pieces and techniques, but to develop an overall passion for music.

With March Break coming up, this year I have 1 complete week off teaching (yey!) and then in addition to this many of my students have an extended break from school and will not be having lessons for 2 weeks.  So once I have seen my students this week, it might be 3 weeks before we have a lesson again... seems like a long time!

I was thinking back to when I was a kid and when the libraries used to run reading challenges in the Summer holidays.  I loved to read and finishing x number of books per Summer break was never a problem for me, but I did love filling in the book titles, mark out of 10 I gave each one for it on the challenge sheet!

That was my inspiration for the piano challenge I have put together for my students.

I decided on a 14 day challenge filled with different ways to encourage playing over the break.  Picking favourite songs, a couple of performances, revising old/easy songs, improvising and composing a new ending to a song, playing in pyjamas, playing in the dark, switching hands etc... On one day they even have a challenge to teach their parents a song!!

If they complete the challenges, there will of course be a tasty treat for them at their first lesson back after the break :-)

I included a note to parents (mainly for the parents I don't see) to explain it, and hopefully get them on board in encouraging their children to enjoy playing and completing the challenge!

Thanks to Joy at Color In My Piano for your post showing me these great musical fonts I used for the title.

I also ordered these music chocolate lollipop molds from Amazon to have some fun with over March Break and get them ready for everybody who deserves one!  I'll be sure to add some photos of this when they're done in a couple of weeks.

Please feel free to download the PDF for the March Break challenge, let me know if you need it to read 'Spring Break', 14-day challenge or something else - I'll likely be making a more general one soon anyway but for now, March Break is coming :-D

Have a great last few days before the break (if you get one?!) - let me know what musical or crafty things you'll be getting up to in March ♫