Earlier this year, I reviewed KinderBach and I have been given another opportunity to review it. KinderBach at Home is a wonderful music curriculum for 3-7 year olds that teaches them music through playing the piano (or keyboard). The last time we reviewed this Ellie (4) just loved it and she never stopped talking about it even when we no longer had a subscription. We are very excited to be able to have a new subscription!
KinderBach does not color, sticker or number keys or turn the keyboard sideways. It teaches the children where the notes are using ANY piano or keyboard. One of the first concepts the children are introduced to is that the piano has groups of 2 black keys and 3 black keys. They learn to identify the 2 black keys with a cute story about a donkey named Dodi that lives in a house built over the two black keys. There is video instruction, worksheets and even cards that the kids (or adult) can color and laminate to put on the keyboard as shown here:
Ellie placing the cards
a close up of the cards
Children are also simultaneously taught rhythm, dynamics, and tone. Everything is taught using cute stories, songs, games and fun worksheets. One of the early worksheets, has an apple tree with apples in the tree and on the ground. When children hear a low sound (in the video or a parent can do the sounds) they color an apple on the ground. When they hear a high sound they color an apple in the tree. There are similar activities with loud and soft sounds.
The kids coloring the apples.
As they meet each piano pal they learn more about the keyboard and progress to playing real songs in a pretty short time using special notation. Eventually, they progress to reading music. You can read more about each piano pal here.
Here is a short video sample of one of the lessons.
All of my younger children LOVE KinderBach. Sometimes we watch more than one lesson in a day (most of the time) and they are free to watch them as often as they like. KinderBach currently has 6 levels. Each level has 10 weeks of lessons. Each week has 4 lessons. By the end of level 5 students will be reading music. This is a wonderful way to bring music education to younger students.
Each level looks like the picture above. You just click on the appropriate circle to access your lesson. Lessons are the perfect length for little ones (short!) At the bottom of the screen there is a link to the pdf workbook that goes along with all of the lessons from the level you are on. This is very handy if you want to print out the whole book at one time. You can also access worksheets one at a time in the actual lessons. Note that the first 2 weeks of Level 1 are free.
I can't speak highly enough about how much the kids enjoy this. I can't think of anything negative to say about it. If you have young children, you should definitely give it a try. It's cute, it's fun and educational. Who could ask for more?
I'm also happy to offer a coupon code to my readers for 30% off any order - homeschool, classroom, online or DVDs.
Coupon Code: TOS_crew2012 Expires: 12/31/2012
Creator and "star" of the show, Karri Gregor
The crew is also reviewing the new KinderBach app for iPad and iPod that normally sells for $26.99 but is going to be on sale 50% off next Friday (October 19). I plan to get it. We already have the free Simply Discover Piano FREE app (gives you the first lessons and then you can purchase future lessons in app.) The kids really love it.
Like KinderBach on Facebook to be sure not to miss out on any specials.
disclaimer: I received a 6-month subscription to KinderBachin exchange for an honest review. (I also received free downloads of 2 of the pdf coloring books.)
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