Telling Left from Right

In early childhood music and movement training, I've learned that kids shouldn't be expected to distinguish left from right until 2nd grade or so. From experience, I know that many adults still do not know their left from right. But, in piano, how can we avoid this concept? I find that it's a waste of time to try and get kids to remember which is left and which is right consistently, and then expect that they'll always know the correct hand to use. Piano method books give some cues such as stem direction in pre-reading, but it's still so easy to get mixed up.

I find that having visual cues on the piano can help to quickly solve any momentary confusion:

On the left side we have "Mr. L." L is often used to help kids remember their left hand. In piano, L also stands for "Low notes", which the Left hand plays. On the right is a character named Alice. Alice is a lady who sings high notes. She's on the high side. Whenever I need someone to find their right hand, I might say "Right hand, hi, Alice!" Students can hold both hands out in front of them and quickly find the hand closer to Alice, and they'll know that's the right hand for high notes.

When students start to learn treble and bass clef, I'll put a picture of treble with Alice, and bass with Mr. L.

Alice is rather strange-looking, and, perhaps to some, creepy. In another post, I'll talk about Alice's role beyond helping students identify high notes and their right hand.