Valentine’s Day. Whether you celebrate it or not, it’s a great time to take a break from regular lesson activities! We all need regular breaks to keep excitement fresh. I’m sharing my studio’s favourite Valentine’s Day activities for both private & group lessons!
To celebrate or not celebrate
Before sharing activities, we need to address the elephant in the room. Not everyone celebrates Valentine’s Day.
Fun fact: My husband & I couldn’t figure out why restaurants were always busier & more expensive the week we went to celebrate our anniversary. Around our 5 year anniversary the mystery was solved when we were handed a Valentine’s Day menu. Turns out the couple that doesn’t celebrate Valentine’s Day (us) can mistakenly get married way too close for comfort to this holiday. Ah, the irony.
Even though I don’t celebrate Valentine’s Day, I know many of my students love this holiday. So, I make a point of doing something during lesson time.
What if it’s the opposite? You love Valentine’s Day & your student’s family doesn’t celebrate it. There are ways to still show the love without offending their family.
Valentine’s Day: All in
If you & your students are all in on Valentine’s Day, have fun with it! My recommendation is a themed group lesson.
Planning group lessons
Group lessons are the ultimate in stepping away from the regular routine. It also allows you to have extra time for admin or projects when you cancel private lessons that week!
To bring up the fun factor, you can keep things multi-age & multi-level (within reason). Just follow the planning tips in “How To Plan a Multi-level Group Lesson“.
If you have special needs students, be sure to read “Adapting Online Group Lessons For Special Learners” to help make your group lesson a success.
One of my students’ all-time favourite group lesson activities are digital escape rooms! You can have students complete these individually on their own devices or, our favourite, work as a team to answer the questions. Not only do they get to pick a fun team name, but it takes away the pressure to get the answer right which is perfect for those multi-level groups.
For a Valentine’s Day theme, we love the “All About The Love” digital escape room collection. Each digital escape room focuses on a different aspect of music. While the topics covered aren’t Valentine’s Day focused, the music inside them is.
What made these so much fun for my students was that some of them had movement built right into the digital escape room! Three digital escape rooms would have been too many if we hadn’t had the opportunity to move around during group lesson.
And if you’re wondering if there are any benefits beyond easy planning, check out this article on why digital escape rooms work so well.
Valentine’s Day: No go
Each family is different & I believe it’s my job to respect their choices while also providing a great music education. I’m guessing you feel the same way.
But, it can create a bit of a challenge.
Several years ago I was in a bit of a pickle. Most of my studio was avid fans of Valentine’s Day. And, I had one family that was going to attend our “Valentine’s Day” group lesson that didn’t celebrate the holiday for religious reasons. How could I make things fun & meet the expectations of both groups?
Enter classical music.
Bet you weren’t expecting me to say that, were you? Especially once you realize we don’t really have a classical music focus in my studio.
However, the Romantic era has great music, fits the theme of love and is far enough away from Valentine’s Day that it doesn’t cause problems. Here in Alberta we celebrate Family Day the 3rd Monday of each February. This makes love in all its forms an easy tie in.
The “Travel Through Time: Romantic Era” series of digital escape rooms works great for:
- Private lessons throughout the month,
- Using a 2 – 3 during a group lesson,
- Homework (though I would much rather have students playing their instrument during the week).
Even my students that weren’t fans of classical music loved the format & choice they got in each digital escape room. And, again working as a team during group lesson made this especially fun.
NOTE: When you click the link below, choose the “Romantic Era” option to see details.
Making Valentine’s Day a breeze in your studio
Regardless of which route you choose to go, I hope you take a few of these ideas to change out the routine for your Valentine’s Day week lessons! If you would like to see the outline of a fully planned Valentine’s Day group lesson, click here. This plan works great for fans or non-fans of the holiday alike!
Want to make your planning a breeze? Or, left your planning to the last minute?
We’ve all been there (including me).
Get one of these digital escape rooms. Not only are they ready to use in lessons as soon as they are downloaded … the marking is done for you! If that sounds good to you, can I get a mic drop?
