Tara writes:
My daughter is OBSESSED with music (and noise in general), and currently her instruments of choice are two metal mixing bowls she drums on with bamboo spoons, but she also really loved a little piano at a friend’s house. We are celebrating her in June (when she’ll be 18 months), and I’ve been thinking about getting her some baby/toddler instruments! Any ideas (preferably that won’t cost me $1M)?
I bought a set of Schylling Musical Hand Bells for my niece for Christmas, and they have been a success. Each bell makes an actual note (the note is labeled on the handle with a sticker, which may need to be replaced by permanent marker), so an older child can use them for reals after using them for just-shake-those-bells-any-which-way play as a younger child.
My brother is very musical (I am more the sort who gets completely stumped as soon as flats/sharps are introduced), and I remember him asking for Music Eggs one Christmas. They’re a….rhythm instrument, I think.
I think of Melissa and Doug as a Reliable Toy Brand, and I see they have two basic musical instrument sets, each about $20: the Melissa & Doug Band in a Box (maracas, hand cymbals, tambourine, triangle, two wooden noisemakers)…
…and the Melissa & Doug Beginner Band Set (xylophone, kazoo, castanets, harmonica, jingle stick).
And there’s a piano, which gets closer to the million-bucks cut-off, but sure is cute.
I also think of Alex as a reliable toy brand, and their tub toy instrument set has appealed to me—I think mostly because noise drives me crazy, and I like the idea of restricting it to bath time. Ahem.
I give the kids a toy to play with in the cart, and this cat piano at Target has made many a shopping trip go more smoothly. I don’t think it’s $30 at Target; I think it’s less than that, but maybe I’m misremembering.
I don’t know if the Plan Toys xylophone would be better than a regular xylophone, but it sure is gorgeous looking. …Oh, man, I’m reading the reviews and most of them are pretty terrible. Let me search by customer rating this time.
Okay, apparently this glockenspiel is the way to go: great reviews, a full octave of notes, and also the fun of saying “glockenspiel.”
I’m not familiar with these, but they appeal to me: the Hohner Mini Orchestra. I like the look of them, and that each is a hand-held thing.
Or this Hohner set looks nice too, and has the advantage of having a little more variety and being a little less expensive. But maybe too babyish for an 18-month-old? I can picture getting this and the previous set for a baby, but still having them in use when the baby was a toddler and preschooler.
I asked my brother for suggestions, and he mentioned that a kazoo was surprisingly successful: my niece, at age 2, could get actual music out of it.
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Do you have any musical instrument toys to recommend for the baby/toddler/preschooler age?
(All photos from Amazon.com)
I HIGHLY recommend a harmonica! We’ve had one (from Target — maybe Melissa and Doug??) for years and both my boys love it! Even my 6yo is now able to kind of make actual songs on it. The great thing about a harmonica is — it doesn’t really ever sound completely awful and it can’t ever get really loud (well, maybe a kid could make one loud note using all their breath but that won’t happen too often). Get a semi-real one, not plastic.
aimee @ smilingmama | April 25th, 2012 at 1:17 pm
I have worked in toddler daycare classrooms and nannied toddlers for years and let me tell you. Swistle is RIGHT ON with all of these suggestions! The Hohner sets especially, the handles make them easier to hold/clip onto things (stroller handles & the like) with plastic links and their sounds are distinct and genuine. I have a niece who has the cat piano, great fun for YEARS. Music eggs are awesome! I have also seen many a baby brawl break out over meditation-ball-type instruments. Also don’t forget if the battery-powered instruments are too loud, you can always cover the speaker with masking tape!
denese | April 25th, 2012 at 6:34 pm
Those stick things…darn, what are they called? Does anyone know what I’m talking about? Those hollow plastic tubes where each one makes a different noise when hit against something?
vanessa | April 25th, 2012 at 9:55 pm
Oh and TAMBOURINES!
vanessa | April 25th, 2012 at 10:03 pm
Maracas. Jingle bells on those strips of heavy nylon with velcro so you can attach them around your wrist or ankle. Bongos. The people who make the cat piano also make a dog guitar, which my 3 and 5 year old LOVE.
Jennifer B | April 26th, 2012 at 12:23 pm
I bought the Melissa & Doug Beginner Band Set for my daughter and would not recommend it. Neither the kazoo or the harmonica actually work. And the castanets are very difficult for toddlers, seriously they don’t usually have the coordination yet to make any noise with them unless they throw them at something. She got her fingers caught in the spaces in the jingle stick a few times, but of everything in that box it’s the only thing she could really play with. She does use the xylophone, but it doesn’t really make different “tones”. Her set came with a triangle which she can use, and one of the wooden clapper type instruments which she can use. It looks like they broke their original band into two products now. Of the two, I’d recommend the Band in a Box, but not the Beginner Band Set. I hope this helps.
Barbaraz | April 26th, 2012 at 5:29 pm
I second Aimee’s recommendation of a real harmonica. Never sounds tooooo annoying and you can eventually get real songs out of it.
We have the Glockenspiel (never knew it was called that!) and it has lasted very, very well despite heavy use. However, I’d say it plays pretty loudly (not the soft, muted notes you’d get on a wooden one).
I’ve seen the Hohner sets at pricey baby music classes taught by real musicians and they seem to last even though they are used by dozens of kids a week.
Beth | April 27th, 2012 at 1:27 am
My step-nieces love the cat piano. When I was a little (somewhat musical) kid, I had the older version of this xylophone.
It seems like we maybe had some maracas at some point, and a triangle, and maybe a drum, but I think the drum spent a lot of time in my mom’s secret hiding spot.
My parents also had this old electric organ, from a garage sale or some relative, and it was a fun piano-like item.
GoingLoopy | April 29th, 2012 at 7:02 am