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4 Things To Consider Before Teaching Preschoolers

Teaching preschoolers is a lot of fun and comes with a tonne of benefits (for everyone involved). But it also comes with some challenges. I’m sharing four things I’ve learned along the way, so you can learn from my mistakes! Table of Contents: My Favourite Preschool Story I was walking Katie into her makeup lesson.

4 Things To Consider Before Teaching Preschoolers

Teaching preschoolers is a lot of fun and comes with a tonne of benefits (for everyone involved).

But it also comes with some challenges.

I’m sharing four things I’ve learned along the way, so you can learn from my mistakes!

Table of Contents:

  1. My Favourite Preschool Story
  2. Research, Research, Research
  3. Adjust Your Mindset
  4. Consider All Your Options
  5. Choose Two Methods
  6. Basically…

My Favourite Preschool Story

I was walking Katie into her makeup lesson. She was over the moon. She literally skipped into the piano room with a BIG smile on her face.

Truthfully, I thought it was a little odd. Katie liked piano, but her excitement was…a bit over the top.

Fast forward 15 minutes, and she looked up at me with her big, beautiful eyes and asked, “When are my makeup lessons going to start?”

I was confused. “This is your makeup lesson.”

She reached up and patted her cheek. “No. My MAKEUP lesson.”

Oh my! Katie thought we were going to learn how to put on makeup! Isn’t that the cutest thing? To this day, thinking about it still makes me smile.

But here’s my point: preschoolers have a different mindset.

They don’t always think the way we expect them to. And why should they?

If you want to teach them successfully, you must change your thinking.

Research, Research, Research

There are plenty of teachers who are already successfully teaching preschoolers.

I wish I’d reached out and asked for help before I launched into my first preschool lesson.

To help you prepare and set yourself up for success, research things like:

  • Setting goals for preschoolers
  • How to organize your activities (preschoolers move FAST, and you better be ready!)
  • Partner lessons vs. private lessons vs. full classes
  • How to deal with bad behavior (BEFORE it happens)
  • Marketing ideas for this age group

Hearing what works and doesn’t work for different teachers is a game-changer.

Adjust Your Mindset Before Teaching Preschoolers

Don’t judge me (I bet some of you reading this think the same thing I did). I went into teaching preschool lessons thinking I’d teach piano at a slower pace.

It sounds so dumb now, but I really didn’t think that teaching preschoolers would be that different from my other elementary students.

Boy, was I wrong.

I needed a different mindset. In many areas.

Especially the idea of “piano lessons” vs “music lessons.”

And again, in order to fully understand the difference, research how other teachers are teaching preschool students.

Related: Teaching Preschoolers

Consider All Your Options For Teaching Preschoolers

First off, whether you teach preschoolers in

  • Private lessons
  • Group lessons
  • Partner lessons

There is no WRONG answer. It’s completely a personal preference.

My problem was that I defaulted to private lessons without really considering my options.

I thought since the rest of my studio was private lessons, what would be the point in doing anything different?

That thinking was a mistake.

Again, I should have researched more.

In hindsight, I should have started with partner lessons. But of course, if you’re looking to UP your income, a larger class might be the right choice for you.

Whatever you decide, the important thing is to seriously consider ALL the options.

Choose Two Methods

This is the biggest mistake that I want you to learn from: I decided on ONE curriculum and expected it to work for ALL my students.

When it didn’t work for each student, I felt frustrated and stressed.

I’m not sure why I didn’t realize it earlier. With my older students, I use different methods depending on the child. I TOTALLY should have done this with preschoolers.

Of course, if you’re teaching to a full class, your program will obviously be geared toward a larger group.

But if you’re planning on private or partner lessons, find a couple of methods that you like. Then, you’ll be ready to switch to Plan B if needed.

Basically…

Research. Don’t jump in and start teaching preschoolers thinking it’ll be like teaching older students just on a smaller and slower scale.

One resource I highly recommend is the TopMusicMag: Teaching Preschoolers. Download it here.

Tracy Selle

Tracy Selle is a Christian wife, mom, piano teacher, and author of 101 Piano Practice Tips. She is also the creator of Upbeat Piano Teachers. She’s been teaching piano for nearly 20 years and prior to that, was a TV meteorologist. Her goal is to inspire other piano teachers and hopefully their enthusiasm will impact students across the globe!

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