Little Fuzzy Club Ideas

Using the Little Fuzzies in piano lessons has been a huge hit with students and teachers! Many teachers have let us know they are using Fuzzies for themes in their studios, from recitals to “Little Fuzzy Clubs”. These clubs are a great way to motivate students and give them something exciting to look forward to in lessons! Plus, creating a club gives students a feeling of camaraderie, which can be a struggle when piano lessons are indivualized!

Below are ideas we’ve been given from wonderfully creative ComposeCreate® teachers – and we would love to hear your ideas too!

Little Fuzzy Club

A “Little Fuzzies Club” is a great way to establish camaraderie amongst students so they feel encouraged to continue. Here’s what Cindy told us about about her Little Fuzzy Club:  

I recently purchased the Little Fuzzy Adventure pack, as well as the original. I made some fuzzies, too. This week I told my younger students that I was starting a Little Fuzzies ‘Club’ – really just having them learn all the pieces this semester, like a very, very miniature 30/40 piece contest.
 
Well, here is the story about one little girl who is a chronic non-practicer. I gave her the first piece Monday and her mom texted me within 24 hours telling me that she ‘hasn’t stopped practing the piece and she loves it.’ I’m so excited! I know that you get lots of success stories, but I’m happy to share mine with you!

Cindy

Little Fuzzy Incentives

Another teacher was telling us that her students are excited to earn their own Little Fuzzy after they learn one of the Little Fuzzies pieces. She said that even her older students are loving learning the pieces and earning the little guys!

The students earn 1 Fuzzy per song.  Once they’ve finished learning the piece, they choose the pompom they want and I have it ready for them by the following week.


For the older students who want to participate, their technique has to be ‘perfect’ for them to earn their Little Fuzzy.  Because the songs are easy for them to play, they need to really focus on hand/finger position, slurs, accents, etc!  (The little ones do too, but not to the same extent.)  Since technique is no one’s favourite thing , I figured earning the Fuzzies would help give them the incentive to focus more on technique.  And it’s working!

Deborah Black

Fuzzy Fest

ComposeCreate® teacher Julie told us that she had a month-long “Fuzzy Fest” in her studio! Her students played Fuzzies pieces, and got their own Fuzzy for each piece that they learned – genius! Since there are Fuzzy pieces for so many holidays (with more coming!), you can keep the Fuzzy Fest going throughout the year. And, you can even let the Fuzzies match the holiday or theme of the song! 

Here’s a photo from Susan, who created adorable green Little Fuzzies to display in her studio for St. Patrick’s Day! She said it motivated her students learning Pot o’ Gold – I can see why!

Name Your Little Fuzzy

Toni sent in a fabulous idea that she had using the Little Fuzzies in piano lessons to create an immediate sense of ownership and belonging in her young beginner students – letting them name the Fuzzies! Here’s some of the names her students came up with: Icy, Sunny, Kurt, Pinkie, Little Fuzzy, Bubbles, Tommy Big Pig, Grape, Spikes, Greenie, and Fire Guy! 

Here’s how she uses the Little Fuzzies in her studio:

These adorable characters bring joy and motivation to our piano practice sessions! As for our friends names, I discovered your amazing song during one of your webinars last year and couldn’t wait to try it out. Inspired also by your idea, I created some ‘Little Fuzzies’ and used them as markers on the keys to help Anthony learn the song.  Anthony instantly fell in love with the music and couldn’t wait to play it at our piano workshop for the other students. I created a few more fuzzy friends and all the students named one at the workshop! So, it was a collective effort. 🙂 

Our ‘Little Fuzzy’ friends are an absolute hit and bring so many smiles and giggles during lessons for all of the students now! We use them for so many purposes throughout lessons – sometimes they’re a friendly audience when a student is playing through a new song, sometimes they are a reminder for a certain key, etc. Whenever a new student joins my studio, I now create a new fuzzy for them to name and add to our bunch!  Thank you so much for this amazing idea!!

When I asked Anthony if he could picture the Little fuzzies going on an adventure he was thrilled to do so! This is what he said without any hesitation (something tells me maybe he’s already been picturing this, haha!): ‘
The Little Fuzzies are going on a hunt for treasures! They go to the mountains and dig – They find the treasure box, then they need to find the key. They dig another hole to find a key for it. They find the key and open the treasure – it’s filled with gems, shiny gold, money!!’”

Toni

And here’s a video of Anthony playing his Little Fuzzy song! 

The Fuzzy Panel

It’s a fabulous idea for students to have Little Fuzzies at home who “help” with practice. But having Fuzzies who live in your studio (with their own wild personalities) can be a huge help during lesson time as well! 

• It opens the door for honest feedback from you, but in a way that is digestible for younger students
• It teaches students to play for an “audience”, even if the audience is just made of fluff! 
• It can give students an idea of what their own Fuzzies at home may be watching for. You can give gentle prompts like, “Does your Fuzzy at home always watch for that rhythm in measure 4 just like the Fuzzy here does?”

New Little Fuzzy Club 3″ Stickers!

Where to Find All of the Little Fuzzy Pieces:

There are now so many Fuzzy pieces that we’ve created an entire category for them here. If you’re wondering what pieces may be missing in your library, here are all of the pieces:

We absolutely love hearing teacher ideas featuring the Little Fuzzies! If you have anything to add, please definitely tell us about it below.