As a piano teacher and the parent of a four-year-old, I am often asked by other parents if this is a good time to begin piano lessons. Because every child is different, now might be a good time for some, but not for others. Even if your child shows a strong interest in music, they might not be ready to begin formal lessons. 

When I teach young children, I find that many of the activities we do in class are things any parent could do at home with their child. Here are some ideas to get you started:

1. If you don’t already have a piano in the house, get one! There is a wide range of instruments for every budget.  If possible, have the instrument in your house well before starting lessons. It will become as familiar as a favorite toy.  When you do begin lessons, your child will already have a degree of comfort at the instrument.  
2. Encourage musical experiments! Your child won’t break the piano. Let them experience the unparalleled range of sounds a piano can make.  Make up musical stories together, improvise together at the piano, listen to music together, and sing together.
3. Show them the groups of black keys—they come in 2’s and 3’s. Learning to identify them with ease is the first step toward mastering the letter names of all the white keys.  They can improvise on the black keys, making up their own songs. The black keys all sound good together, and you can hold the right pedal down for extra effect. Encourage playing all over the keyboard, to develop a wide range of motion from the very beginning.
4. Teach them the musical alphabet. It starts at A and goes up to G. Then it starts all over again.
5. Learn the left side from the right side. I often spend considerable time on this at the first few lessons with a young student!  It is important to identify the left hand and right hand, and also to develop a kinesthetic awareness of both sides. This can be accomplished with fun games involving the whole body!  For example, a child can practice jumping to the left or right. This can also be tied into the foundations of ear training – jump to the right when you hear a high sound, to the left when you hear a low sound, and jump in place when you hear the same sound.