Who doesn’t love prizes, rewards or even a verbal pat on the back occasionally!  All kids young and older love to receive rewards.  Make practice fun! Let your child be part of the process to decide what excites them!  Music of course alone is exciting but when you are a child having an extra incentive is just plain exciting!

Practice Should Be FUN and Yes, it is discipline and work too!

Paper chains

Do your kids like to be crafty and make things?  You can set a goal to practice 100 days.  Let your child add one chain for each day of practice.  Having a visual helps them to keep track of their progress. (See Main Post Image)

Paper Clips

It’s also fun to link paper clips together.  There are many pretty color paper clips.  Kids love to come up with patterns.  One blue clip, then a red, back to blue etc.  You could do the 100 day challenge or maybe it’s a weekly challenge.  Set the challenge and the reward.

 

 

Stickers and Sticky Tabs

Stickers or sticky tabs are another way for kids to have fun practicing!  I always encourage a young student to play their piece 3-5 times well each day.  Purchase fun sticky note tabs for reusable stickers.  Every time they play their song the student puts up a sticky tab on the page they are practicing until they have their 5 tabs up.  They love having that visual in front of them.  You could also purchases a book that they add their favorite stickers to. There are so many endless ways to make it fun!

The Money Jar

Here is a favorite of mine.  I love getting a mason jar then filling it with pennies or nickels.  Every time the student plays the assigned song they put one coin in the jar.  Have it near their keyboard or piano. When the jar fills up then they can purchase a treat with the money.

Figure out what works for your child.  What are they excited about?  What is their favorite treat?  Is it a short goal or a long term goal?  Learning should be fun!  Make every day a happy day and one that is a joyous memory.  Children grow quickly and are very impressionable.  We should always take time to be the encourager and supporter that they need!