Piano Lock

I think that you need to put your effort into teaching your children to appreciate the piano and play it properly...I understand that you want to protect your piano, but you also want them to learn how to take care of it. You don't say how old your children are but they are not too young to learn about "gentle touches"....if they are old enough to be getting up to the piano to play it. Show them the difference between banging and making music. Use this as a learning experience...even though it takes more time to do that than to put a 'Lock" on the piano...you are going to reap the benefits for a long time to come if you use this as a learning experience. My 32 month old grandson loves my faithful old piano ( I learned to play on about 55 years ago!!) and he knows to play with just one finger of each hand...instead of just pounding. He still gets a little carried away at times...the music makes him SO happy...but a "gentle touch" reminder from us usually does the trick. I am looking forward to teaching him some simple little songs to play in a year or so...what fun!!!

Before you visit the hardware store, visit a piano store - or at least call. There must be ways of installing a lock on a piano that doesn't ruin the piano.

While you're doing that, teach your children how to treat the piano. They can learn to be gentle well before they're ready to learn to play.

Check this out.
http://www.harmonyonline.com/piano-covers-accessories-fal...

It looks kind of expensive, maybe you and your husband could come up with something similar at the hardware store..

This is a little expensive maybe, but is intended for pianos:

http://www.jansenpianobenches.com/pianolocks.html

http://www.gamblemusic.com/index.cfm?category=282

You might try looking around online or in music stores for something like this.

You'll probably find lots of clamps that fit the bill. They have nice ones with relatively gentle grippers. Of course, they don't lock, so your kids may be able to undo them.

How old are the little ones? If they're big enough to reach the piano they should be old enough to respect it. Maybe teach them how to play it without banging on the keys, so they can learn the difference between instrument and toy.