- Octo
- Pim, the hermit crab
- Moss, the sea turtle
- Luma, the jellyfish
- Gilly, the gull
Piano for children who can't read yet
A child of 2½ can do real music at a piano. They can keep a steady beat, hear high and low, play loud and soft, stop on cue, and find the black keys in twos and threes. Reading comes later. Octotune Kids starts with those skills, then moves to colored circles, then to the staff.
Open Octotune and choose Kids in the top bar.
What a small child can really do at a piano
At 2½ to 3½, most children:
- play with a whole hand or one pointing finger. Separate fingers, one at a time, usually come at about 5 or 6.
- hear high and low, especially with a character for each: in Octotune, Gilly the gull up high and Moss the turtle down low.
- keep a beat for a few taps, and get better at it quickly.
- stop when asked. Hands in the lap is the first control skill.
- see patterns. The black keys in twos and threes are the map of the whole keyboard.
That is exactly where Octotune Kids starts. The first units ask for nothing a small hand can't do: no finger numbers, no held notes, no reading. Our parents' guide to piano for toddlers explains the thinking and the research behind it, and Teaching your child piano at home is for parents who don't play themselves.
Shown, never told
Octotune doesn't speak. There is no voice in Kids mode, or anywhere else in the app. The child gets each instruction from sound, pictures and the keys themselves:
- A demonstration first. The first time a new kind of question appears, a drawn hand shows the answer ("watch me"), then a badge says it is the child's turn.
- The key to play lights up in its own color, with a bouncing marker above it.
- Painted notes. Every note is painted in its own color, with its letter in its head. Red C, orange D, yellow E, green F, blue G, purple A, pink B. The same color is on the key and on the staff, so "find the orange one" works long before "find D". A grown-up can turn the letters off.
- Octo and his friends from the reef. Gilly the gull flies up high and calls out loud, Moss the turtle stays down low, Luma the jellyfish drifts softly, and Octo sits back and listens when it is time for hands in your lap.
- An arrow, not a word. After a wrong key, a dashed arrow runs along the piano from the key that was pressed to the one wanted.
- A band. Each note a child meets joins a little band at the top of the page. Tap one and it sings.
The words on screen are for the grown-up. Read them out if you like, or just sit beside your child and play along.
The Kids path
Eleven short units. Each sitting takes about two minutes, with at most two new notes and six to eight items. There are no timers and no failure states: a miss simply brings the item back later.
| Unit | What your child learns |
|---|---|
| Hello, piano | Make a sound with each hand; loud and soft; hands in the lap, the first silence. |
| High and low | High like Gilly the gull, low like Moss the turtle; tap a steady beat with the drum; up and down the stairs; copy what you hear. |
| Fingers and black keys | Finger numbers in each hand; the black keys in twos and threes; every C, just before the two. |
| Middle C and friends | Red C, orange D and yellow E, read as colored circles that rise and fall. First tune: Hot Cross Buns. |
| Up to G | The circles land on lines and spaces: the staff. Green F and blue G join; one finger for each friend. |
| Up high | Purple A, pink B and high C, counted up from G. Twinkle, Twinkle and Lightly Row. |
| Down low | The left hand gets its own staff, from middle C down to F. |
| Two hands together | The left hand's own five keys; then both hands play. |
| Hop and skip | A hop goes to the next line or space; a skip jumps over one. Old MacDonald and London Bridge. |
| Long and short | Some notes walk, some wait. Quarter, half and whole notes on the drum, and a rest. |
| Way up, way down | The top of the treble staff and the bottom of the bass. Happy Birthday, and a real piano piece, Behr's In May. |
The first three units have no notation at all. A child who finishes the path reads the notes of the grown-ups' first eight units, in both hands. The whole Kids path, unit by unit.
Built for chaos
Small children press lots of keys. Octotune Kids expects it:
- Stray keys never block or undo a step. A palm on the keys, or a flurry of presses, is heard but not judged. A splat counts as one answer.
- A finger sliding along the keys doesn't play the tune. A step still wants its key pressed on purpose, so mashing alone doesn't finish a song.
- Nothing is held too long. Only half notes and longer ask to be held, and letting go early still moves on.
- In the earliest activities, a wrong key is a soft nudge. No red, no buzz.
- Always three stars. A child is never graded: every finished activity, sitting and song earns all three.
An iPad on the music stand
Kids mode is laid out for a tablet standing on the piano first: no scrolling, the piano filling the width of the screen, big targets. Then phones in either direction, then computers.
- On an iPad or iPhone, download Octotune from the App Store, or use the browser. Your child can start on the on-screen piano. Safari does not support Web MIDI; the iPhone and iPad guide explains the app and keyboard options.
- With a keyboard or digital piano, use Chrome or Edge on a computer, or Chrome on an Android tablet, and plug it in by USB. The notes your child plays on the real keys light up on screen.
For grown-ups
- A quiet gear for grown-ups. The settings (sound, input, full screen, tempo, letters on the notes, the tip for the current activity) sit behind a small gear in the corner. The account, the grown-ups' players and every link out of the app ask a grown-up's question first.
- One line for you on every activity: what to do with your own hands, what to sing.
- Each player keeps their own progress. Your child plays as themselves, with their own picture, and a parent trying a lesson plays as themselves too, so nothing is marked done for the wrong person. Kids or Adult goes with the player: to switch, tap your child's picture at the top of the screen and pick who's playing. Picking a grown-up asks a quick grown-ups' question first.
- The week at a glance. The grown-ups' drawer shows what your child has practiced this week.
- The pace is yours. A tempo setting slows or speeds every lesson and the drum, from half speed to one and a half times.
Privacy
Kids mode has no ads, no analytics and no tracking. Nothing is asked of a child: no name, no sign-in, no chat. Progress stays on your device unless a grown-up chooses to sign in from behind the hold. Read the privacy page.
Questions
What age is Octotune Kids for?
From about 2½ to 6. The first units need no reading, no letters and no finger control; the staff arrives later, on colored notes.
Does Kids mode talk to my child?
No. Octotune never speaks. Each step is shown instead: a drawn hand demonstrates first, the key to play lights up, and every finished activity ends with three stars.
Can my child break anything or get stuck?
No. Stray keys and palms on the piano never block or undo a step. The account and every way out of the app ask a grown-up's question first.
Does my child need an account?
No. Children never sign in. A grown-up can sign in with Google or Apple from behind the hold to keep progress safe across devices; it is optional.
The Kids path
| Unit | What it teaches |
|---|---|
| 1. Hello, piano | Make a sound, with each hand; loud and soft; and hands in the lap, the first silence. |
| 2. High and low | High like Gilly the gull, low like Moss the turtle; a steady beat on the drum; up the stairs and down; copy what you hear. |
| 3. Fingers and black keys | Finger numbers in each hand, the black keys in twos and threes, and every C, just before the two. |
| 4. Middle C and friends | Three friends in a row: red C, orange D, yellow E. Circles show high and low before there is a staff. |
| 5. Up to G | The circles land on lines and spaces: the staff. Green F and blue G join, and one hand has a friend under every finger. |
| 6. Up high | Blue G sits where the treble clef curls. Purple A, pink B and the high red C climb from it. |
| 7. Down low | The left hand gets its own staff. From middle C it steps down to F, the line between the bass clef’s two dots. |
| 8. Two hands together | Low C, D and E: the left hand’s own five keys, an octave below middle C. Then both hands play. |
| 9. Hop and skip | A step goes to the very next line or space, a skip hops over one. Orange D and yellow E sit above high C. |
| 10. Long and short | Some notes walk, some wait. Quarter, half and whole notes on the drum, and a rest to breathe. |
| 11. Way up, way down | Green F and blue G at the top of the treble staff; pink B, purple A and blue G at the bottom of the bass. |
The Kids path, unit by unit · Piano for toddlers · Children’s songs · Privacy