The right piano beginner piano book for kids can get them excited about learning how to play piano from day one. With their fun songs and tried-and-true teaching methodologies, the following piano methods for younger beginners are a great place to start. Although some of the books can be used by kids to teach themselves piano, others are best used with the help of an experienced piano teacher.
Note: Older kids (and precocious younger children) teaching themselves piano may be better suited to one of these best beginner piano books for older kids and adults.
As a supplement to piano method books, modern virtual piano lessons and apps like Playground Sessions (ages 7 and up) and Flowkey (all ages) provide a fun, visual, and interactive way of learning piano for less than the cost of private lessons. These tools are also regularly used by piano teachers to motivate younger students to practice.
This post is divided into three parts. Click on the link to jump to that section of the post:
- Best beginner piano methods for kids
- Best beginner piano songbooks for kids
- What is the best way to learn piano for kids?
Now let’s get right into the best beginner piano books for kids!
Best Beginner Piano Methods for Kids and Young Children
These piano methods for kids teach piano starting with the very basics and gradually progressing through more challenging exercises and songs. These methods have been selected based on positive feedback from piano teachers and other reviewers on Amazon.
Teaching Little Fingers to Play: A Book for the Earliest Beginner (John Thompsons Modern Course for The Piano)
Author: John Thompson
Length: 40 pages
This piano method for younger beginners is an old classic favored by many piano teachers. In fact, my piano teacher used an earlier version of this book in my first lesson almost 30 years ago!
Students will learn short, simple songs that use both the treble and bass clef. The songs are written with smaller hands in mind, and many of the notes are numbered with suggested fingerings.
Each song has lyrics so the teacher or student can sing along, making learning the piano memorable and fun. The book includes beautiful colored illustrations on every page.
Beginner Piano Lessons for Kids (Book with Online Video and Audio Access)
Author: Jay Wamsted
Length: 51 pages
Beginner Piano Lessons for Kids is a step-by-step training course for elementary school-aged children (ages 5 to 11) who are just starting to learn how to play the piano.
Songs and exercises are written in standard music notation, with suggested fingerings given. First, the course guides students to play using just the right hand. Gradually, it progresses to two-handed arrangements on the grand staff.
The course includes access to audio tracks and over an hour of online video instruction. The videos show the song being played from overhead, with the sheet music onscreen at the same time. The audio includes each of the songs in the book played at two different speeds, one with just the piano part and the other as a full arrangement.
Of the 14 songs included in the course are “Jingle Bells,” “Oh When the Saints,” and “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.”
In the Amazon reviews for this book, a couple of parents noted that their 8-year-old kids were able to quickly learn songs on their own by using the book.
Alfred’s Basic Piano Library Lesson Book, Level 1A
Authors: Willard A. Palmer, Morton Manus, Amanda Vick Lethco
Length: 64 pages
Other books in this series:
This series includes levels 1A, 1B, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, as well as supplemental books (Technic, Theory, and Recital).
Recommended for younger learners with the aid of an instructor, this easy step-by-step piano method teaches sight reading with an emphasis on interval recognition. Students will learn how to recognize melodic and harmonic intervals of seconds, thirds, fourths, and fifths.
Additionally, the book teaches students how to read notes in the treble and bass clefs and on the grand staff. This first volume gives an introduction to the flat and sharp signs.
The book includes a selection of easy piano songs, with students learning tunes from the first lesson. The lessons include large colored illustrations.
Amazon reviewers note they have successfully used this piano method with beginner students ages 5 and up. Additionally, a couple of piano teachers claim this is their favorite beginner piano book for kids.
Note that although the Amazon description says the book comes with a CD, reviewers say there is no CD included.
It’s also worth noting that for kids aged 8 and up, or for especially musically inclined younger children, Alfred offers a faster-paced version of levels 1A and 1B, called Lesson Book Complete Level 1 for the Later Beginner.
Play It! Children’s Songs: A Superfast Way to Learn Awesome Songs on Your Piano or Keyboard
Authors: Jennifer Kemmeter, Antimo Marrone
Length: 66 pages
Co-authored by an experienced piano teacher, this piano-learning system for young beginners teaches piano in a unique way, using color-coded labels that correspond to colored musical notes on the page. For example, red labels represent the note C, yellow labels represent E, and so on. The labels can be attached to the keyboard with tape or putty.
This system is effective in getting younger children (ages 5 and up) interested in piano by teaching them how to play songs quickly – without learning to read music first! Because the color-coded notes are presented on the musical staff, students will become familiar with standard musical notation as they practice.
In addition to exercises in basic piano technique, the book includes a good selection of best-loved children’s songs like “I’m a Little Teapot” and “If You’re Happy and You Know It.” It also gives basic instruction in measures, time signatures, and note durations, and a primer on how to read sheet music.
Amazon reviews of the book are largely positive, with several reviewers saying the color-coded learning system is intuitive even for very young children, making it one of the best beginner piano books for kids.
Best Beginner Piano Songbooks for Kids and Young Children
The following piano songbooks for kids are collections of fun and easy songs to play, ranging from beginner-friendly arrangements of classical pieces and jazz standards to modern-day pop songs and movie themes. Samples of sheet music included in the books is available on Amazon.
Big Book of Beginner’s Piano Classics: 83 Favorite Pieces in Easy Piano Arrangements (Book and Downloadable MP3s)
Authors: Bergerac, David Dutkanicz
Length: 144 pages
This piano songbook for kids presents easy arrangements of famous classical pieces by Bach, Chopin, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Debussy, Handel, and others. Downloadable MP3 demos of the tunes are included with the book.
The pieces are arranged for both hands, and most of them range in length from one to three pages. The bass clef part usually has one or two notes at a time. Many of the tunes are in the easy-to-play keys of C or F, although a few pieces contain up to four flats or sharps. Fingering suggestions are given for many of the pieces.
According to one commenter on Amazon, students who use this book should be able to read music two octaves up from middle C and one octave below. Another reviewer states the book is “towards the advanced end” of beginner level.
Simple Songs: The Easiest Easy Piano Songs
Publisher: Hal Leonard Corporation
Length: 122 pages
With its repertoire of popular pieces across a wide range of genres – including classical pieces, pop and Broadway hits, movie themes, folk tunes, and jazz standards – this is one of the best beginner piano books for kids.
A few of the book’s 50 easy arrangements include “He’s a Pirate” (from Pirates of the Caribbean), “Linus and Lucy,” the main theme from Star Wars, “Memory,” “Moon River,” and “Hey Jude.”
The pieces contain just a few flats or sharps at most and are arranged for both hands, with one to two notes per hand at a time. Fingering suggestions are given for keyboard position changes. Most of the songs are one to three pages long.
Easy Keyboard Songs for Beginners: 60 Fun and Easy to Play Keyboard Songs for Beginners
Author: Thomas Johnson
Length: 71 pages
This songbook is ideal for younger beginners taking keyboard lessons. The easy arrangements don’t include a bass clef part: Instead, chord symbols are placed above the treble clef part, as they would be on a lead sheet. Therefore, this book can be used to teach students how to play basic chord types by reading chord symbols.
The book contains beautiful illustrations and a selection of popular kid’s songs like “The Muffin Man” and “Baa, Baa, Black Sheep.”
Notes on the staff are given letters to make reading the music easier, and numbers are also given for suggested fingerings. The songs are arranged in order of difficulty, gradually introducing new chords as the student progresses through the book.
What is the best way to learn piano for kids?
Although some of the above methods are easy enough for kids to follow along with on their own, even the best beginner piano books for kids aren’t an efficient substitute for modern online piano lessons or one-on-one lessons with an experienced piano teacher. However, a good piano method book can lay a solid foundation in the basics and get kids interested in music early on.