Prodigies is AMAZING for kids 3-6 as it allows them to focus on meaningful play with pitch during the critical period for auditory development.
Preschoolers should largely work from the Level 1 General Music Curriculum.
This is the age where kids can really start working through curriculum workbooks, songbooks, and video lessons to greater effect.
If you're using Prodigies, definitely check out the Level 1 of our General Music Curriculum. This is specifically designed for preschoolers and should be a big hit with kids 3-6.
Children at this age (3-6) are prime for what we call "meaningful and memorable play with individual notes." Kids at this age aren't the best at reading music or playing the piano, but they have the unique skill of being able to develop perfect pitch in this time frame, so focus on the individual sounds and concepts in the Level 1A and 1B General Music Curriculum.
Be sure to take advantage of our supplemental workbook chapters as well, which include lesson plans. You can also purchase print versions here.
Instruments We Recommend For Preschoolers
We HIGHLY recommend C Major Deskbells for preschoolers. They're durable and easy to play and allow kids to receive meaningful and memorable play with pitch during their critical period for auditory development.
You can find C Major Bells in the Prodigies Shop, on Amazon, and by searching the web for CNDBD (sometimes written as CNDB-D).
Preschoolers are also prime to start beginner piano lessons. You can follow along with Playtime Prodigies and Level 1A on piano, and follow along Piano Prodigies Chapter 1 simultaneously.
Key Concepts To Focus On For Ages 3-6
With infants and toddlers, you want to focus on giving them three types of musical exposure.
Beginner Instrumental Instruction With Deskbells, Mallets, Or Piano
Once your kids have some hand-eye coordination and a bit longer attention span, it's time to start learning simple melodies and songs on the deskbells.
This is what Prodigies excels at, and you can use the Level 1A Courses suggested above to learn lots of popular preschool melodies.
Absolute/Perfect Pitch Development
Preschoolers are in the height of the critical period for auditory development, which means you can teach them the amazing skill of perfect pitch.
You can do this with programs like Prodigies, the Taneda Method, Nuryl, and more.
Solfege Hand Signs
The Solfege Hand Signs are another fundamental skill that will help develop your child's ear and voice simultaneously.
The Curwen hand signs pair the Solfege syllables with easy-to-remember signs that help develop strong pitch recall.
We do A TON of hand-signing in Prodigies, and you can visit our Melodies collection for hand-sign-centric videos.
Free Play
All kids learn through play, and simply having musical instruments and activities around the home or classroom is the first step to activating your child's sense for musical wonder.
Meaningful Exposure To Individual Notes
This is the important and powerful idea of letting children explore one note at a time with bells, Boomwhackers, or other instruments that let you focus on a single note. This is what Prodigies excels at, especially for young kids.
High Information Music
Letting kids listen to complicated music (jazz, classical, north Indian, improv, etc) will help expand their idea for what's possible for music. For a great High Information Music app, check out Nuryl.
Singing, Composing & Improvising
Once kids start becoming more verbal, you can do A TON of work by just singing different songs, melodies, rhymes, and folk songs.
At 2 and a half, our daughter just sings about EVERYTHING she's doing. Painting, cooking in her kitchen, getting dressed, she sings about everything.
At this age, attention spans are super short. Thankfully, you can sing about pretty much anything, so it can happen more regularly throughout the day.
We do our best to model this by parodying our favorite songs with funny things happening at home. We sing about brushing our teeth, getting dressed, going for walks, all the best stuff.
