Teaching Musical Theatre to Young Children 

When faced with the task of teaching the very young (ages 2-5), the most common 
mistake is to over-complicate the subject matter. The role of the teacher is first and 
foremost to facilitate an enjoyable engagement with the material. It’s also important to 
keep in mind the developmental phases of each age group within this age range and to 
tailor your lesson plan to the abilities of the children you will be teaching. But even with 
the most thorough preparation, the teacher may have to improvise in class. Here are 
some ideas for the teacher: 

1. Make it fun 
 
Unless you’re working with a small group of hand-selected, highly gifted children; 
chances are your objective is not actually to turn any of your students into 
Broadway stars (unless that’s what you’ve promised at the onset of your course, 
in that case, you’re reading the wrong article). You can make the session 
enjoyable for the kids by including many games which help facilitate skills 
acquisition.  
 
2. Have reasonable expectations 
 
Any child below 5 years old has a limited attention span, so planning to use 20 
minutes focused purely on teaching a group of 4 year olds a song is a recipe for 
failure. First ensure that what you are planning to teach is within their capabilities 
and then break it down into smaller chunks of information. Then, find a fun way 
to introduce the music. Musical statues is a great way of getting children to 
engage with new material. Whatever you do, don’t expect them to get it 100% 
right the first time.