The Kids path: from first sounds to the staff

The Kids path has eleven short units for children from about 2½ to 6. Three Explore units come first, with no notation at all; then red C, orange D and yellow E on coloured circles; then the staff, the left hand, both hands, steps and skips, long and short notes, and the edges of both staves.

Octotune's Kids path has eleven short units for children from about 2½ to 6. The first three have no notation at all: sounds, hands, high and low, the beat, fingers and black keys. Then the notes arrive as coloured circles that rise and fall, then on the staff, first for the right hand, then the left, then both. A child who finishes the path reads the same notes as the grown-ups' first eight units.

How a Kids sitting works

• About two minutes, with six to eight items and at most two new notes.
• No reading, no voice. Each new kind of question is shown first by a drawn hand ("watch me"), then the child has a go ("your turn"). The key to play lights up in its colour.
• No timers and no failure. A miss brings the item back later. Stars are generous.
• Built for small hands. Stray keys and palms don't block or undo anything, and only long notes ask to be held.
• One line for the grown-up on every activity: what to do, what to sing.

Explore: the keyboard before notation

Hello, piano

Make a sound, with each hand; loud and soft; and hands in the lap, the first silence.

• Make a sound: free play. Every key counts and each note floats up as a coloured bubble. Nothing can go wrong.
• Two hands: the lit hand plays on its own side of the piano. A whole-hand splat counts.
• Loud and soft: a roaring bear, a little mouse.
• Hands in your lap: play, then stop and wait. Stopping on cue is how a rest is learned.

For the grown-up: sit your child at the middle of the piano with their feet supported. Many keys at once is exploring, not a mistake.

High and low

High like a bird, low like a bear; a steady beat on the drum; up the stairs and down; copy what you hear.

• High and low: the right side of the piano is high, the left side low. Every key is one or the other.
• Tap with the drum: tap any key on the click. Misses don't count against your child; ten good taps finish it.
• Up the stairs, down the stairs: each key higher than the last, then each lower.
• Copy me: the app plays a note, then two; your child plays them back.

For the grown-up: move first. Arms up for high, down for low, a march for the beat. Sing everything.

Fingers and black keys

Finger numbers in each hand, the black keys in twos and threes, and every C, just before the two.

• Right-hand fingers, left-hand fingers: the thumb is 1, the little finger 5. The hand rests on five keys, one finger each, and a drawn hand lights the finger to use.
• Twos and threes: the black keys in their groups.
• Fingers on the black keys: fingers 2 and 3 on the twos, 2, 3 and 4 on the threes.
• Find the Cs: every C sits just before a pair of black keys (the "bunny ears").

Notes: circles first, then the staff

Middle C and friends

Three friends in a row: red C, orange D and yellow E. They are read as coloured circles, higher for higher notes, before there is any staff. The first tune is Hot Cross Buns: yellow, orange, red.

For the grown-up: C is just before the bunny ears, D between them, E just after. Sing "C, D, E" on the notes.

Up to G

The circles land on lines and spaces: the staff arrives, in a short animation. Green F and blue G join, so one hand has a friend under every finger. Mary Had a Little Lamb is played once more on circles, then Hot Cross Buns and Mary on the staff.

For the grown-up: same colours, same friends; only their home is new. Blue G sits where the curly clef wraps round.

Up high

Blue G sits where the treble clef curls. Purple A, pink B and high red C climb from it. Twinkle, Twinkle comes as soon as A is met; then Lightly Row and Row, Row, Row Your Boat.

For the grown-up: count up from G. In Twinkle, the little finger reaches from G up to A and back.

Down low

The left hand gets its own staff. From middle C it steps down through B, A and G to green F, the line between the bass clef's two dots. Hot Cross Buns and Mary are played by the left hand.

For the grown-up: the bass clef's two dots point at F. The left thumb is 1 too. Red C is the same friend, now visiting the left hand.

Two hands together

Low C, D and E: the left hand's own five keys, an octave below middle C. Then both hands play: Hot Cross Buns and Mary with a bass.

For the grown-up: low C is the left little finger's key. With a bass, the left hand plays one long note while the right plays the tune. You can play the bass at first.

Hop and skip

A hop goes to the very next line or space; a skip jumps over one. Orange D and yellow E sit above high C. Old MacDonald and London Bridge.

For the grown-up: show it with a frog on lily pads, or hop across the floor.

Long and short

Some notes walk, some wait. Quarter, half and whole notes, clapped back and tapped on the drum, and a rest to breathe. Au Clair de la Lune and Jingle Bells.

For the grown-up: walk the short notes, stand still for the long ones, and say "walk, walk, wa-ait". There is no clock: the drum waits, and any tap near the beat counts.

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. Happy Birthday, with and without a bass, and a first real piano piece: the tune of Franz Behr's In May.

For the grown-up: high blue G sits on top of the treble staff; low blue G is the bass staff's very bottom line, the lowest friend in the band.

After the Kids path

The Kids path stops before ledger lines, key signatures, chords and sight-reading, which suit older readers. A child who has finished it knows the notes of the grown-ups' path up to Unit 8, and is ready, when older, for what it teaches next: ledger lines, keys, chords and sight-reading. Meanwhile there are songs to play in the Songs tab, where the songs the path has made them ready for come first.

Piano for young children · Piano for toddlers: the parents' guide · Open Octotune

The Octotune team · Updated 23 September 2026