Best musical instruments for kids. The benefits of musical training and playing an instrument on children’s general well-being and its positive impact on learning other subjects have been well documented. Find an instrument for every age with our wide selection of musical instruments – buy kids guitar, music piano, keyboard, xylophone, violin & drum sets. Let the rock star in your kid come out. Skip to the bestselling musical Instruments for Kids on Amazon.
Learning music offers several benefits including helping in pattern recognition (pre-reading and pre-math skill), learning rhythm (improves math abilities because music is applied math), and vocabulary (the more you sing and RHYME the more your child is likely to pick up on new words).
This article will help you understand more about the different types of kids instruments and their suitability for children of various ages and personalities.
Musical Instruments for Kids
Types of Musical Instruments for Kids
Musical instruments for toddlers (and even younger children) tend to be brightly colored and can be battery operated or acoustic (although you will find more battery operated ones).
These toys are decent representations of real musical instruments, are safe to use, and small in size so that kids can easily handle them,
These instruments give your child the opportunity to explore music and develop their musical side as they are exposed to a wide range of sounds, it enables them to explore musical concepts such as high and low notes, loud and soft, timbre.
Musical Instruments for Kids can be divided into the following categories:
Battery-operated music instruments
These are best suited for very young beginners (infants and toddlers).
These are electronic instruments for kids and come with various built-in sounds, rhythms, and tones which are activated through the various colorful buttons.
Since buttons are easier to press, its easier to produce sound from these instruments.
Similarly, most percussion toy instruments are suited for the earliest beginners, since it is easer to produce sound using these instruments.
There are various kinds of percussion instruments that the youngest beginners can use to generate sound and explore music. These instruments can be played by striking (using hands, sticks, or mallets), or by shaking. Some percussion instruments are “pitched” and can be used for playing melodies (for example, the xylophone).
Mini-sized instruments
These instruments are suited for grown-up kids with slightly well-developed fingers.
These are mini-sized versions of real musical instruments (played by adults). So, you will find smaller-sized pianos, guitars, drums, violins, and more.
These are well-suited for serious beginners who wish to take formal music lessons.
Keyboard instruments
Here are some popular keyboard instruments for children:
Mini Keyboards: Electronic mini keyboards with several sounds and styles.
Toy Pianos: Mini-sized toy pianos for young prodigies.
Kids Accordions: Mini-sized accordion instrument for kids
Guitar Instruments
Here are some popular keyboard instruments for children:
Toddler Guitars: Mini-sized guitar instruments for kids, usually with buttons
Ukuleles: Ukuleles for beginners.
Electric Guitars for Kids: Mini-sized electric guitars with real strings.
3/4 sized electric guitars: Three-fourth sized guitars for the older kids.
More Instruments
Recorder: A popular instrument for beginners.
Melodica: Wind instruments with keys.
Toddler’s music band: multi-piece band instruments for kids
Foot Piano Mat: Great Party Toy Game for Children
Common classroom musical instruments
Vocals, Toy Clarinet, Bass Drum, Keyboards, Kazoo, Banana Shaker, Apple Shaker, Drums, Toy Cymbals, Bongos, Hand Clappers, Baby Electric Guitar/Axe, Xylophone, Melodica, Ukulele, Tambourine, Brown Hat
Instruments that are Easy to Play
While keyboards, guitar, vocals, and drums are the more popular instruments, there are many more musical instruments that kids can learn, and some of them are easier to learn.
Most of these instruments are inexpensive, portable, and also commonly taught in schools. Besides, it is also easier to find music teachers for these instruments.
Lot of parents are apprehensive about drums because they think it is going to be noisy; however, you do get electronic drums nowadays that can be played using headphones without disturbing others.
In recent years, Ukuleles have gained popularity among beginning students because its affordable, easy to carry, and you can play melody as well as rhythms. Music instruments such as the recorder and the melodica are also quite popular among young students.
By and large, most kids seem to be learning these musical instruments.
Related: Easiest musical instruments to learn for kids and adults.
Best Musical Instruments for Kids
Musical instruments for kids are a wonderful way for your little ones to have fun and also learn important skills. Making music with guitars, ukuleles, xylophones, melodicas, mini pianos, drums, and tambourines is a great way to spend an afternoon with your kids, and in the process learn about rhythms and sound. Now its easy to turn a playgroup into band practice with sing-alongs and musical instruments, or you can even give the gift of music to toddlers and children, who can continue to play them for years to come.
With a range of instruments to choose from, you can find one for every age and price range.
Instruments for Kids – 3+ years
These are musical instrument sets (also referred to as music/band in a box) and includes an assortment of instruments (including percussion items).
Remo Kid’s Percussion Rain Forest Gathering Drum
This colorful rain forest gathering drum (includes 16-inch drum and mallets) can be played with hands, sticks, or mallets. Its large in size so multiple children can play at a time. It produces a warm sound with nice resonance.
This adorable 11-inch keyboard for preschoolers is easy to use and includes clips of the CoComelon ABC song and the CoComelon Music song. The keyboard comes with a cute handle for carrying.
Kids 6 Years & Older
- Diamond Head DU-150 Soprano Ukulele
- Casio SA-77 Mini Keyboard
- CAHAYA Melodica 32 piano-style keys
- Mendini by Cecilio 13 Inch 3-Piece Kids / Junior Drum Set
VTech is a popular manufacturer of kids musical instruments that makes a variety of useful instruments for kids. Their instruments have good features, are entertaining and are designed to be educational too. They make everything from keyboards, guitars, drums to other electronic musical instruments. Read more on VTech musical instruments
Melissa & Doug musical instruments: Melissa & Doug is a popular American toy manufacturer that makes a range of (educational & developmental) toys for children, including musical instruments & musical toys.
Recommended Melissa and Doug Musical Instruments:
The piano is among the more popular musical toys, and Melissa and Doug have a few in their catalog. A songbook is included with your piano to help you start playing simple songs. You can find sheet music for your Melissa and Doug piano if you want to play more songs
This is a rainbow-colored, caterpillar-shaped Xylophone with one octave of notes and is well suited for the earliest beginners to explore sounds. Kids will like the bright colors and sweet design of this instrument and will love to fit the two mallets on top of the xylophone (like its antennas).
This is a nice instrument to make the kids aware of what a harmonica looks like and how it sounds. It’s sturdy and will continue to produce sound even when dropped. Unlike the harmonicas for adults, you need to blow this one a bit hard to produce sound.
Recorders are easy-to-play instruments, and this one is a wooden recorder which sounds a bit better than the cheaper plastic-made ones.
These sound puzzles include various musical instruments and you’re supposed to place the correct instrument on the appropriate picture in the puzzle. When you do that, the instrument makes a sound. Remember these are inexpensive sets so the musical instruments are not going to sound very authentic.
Choosing an Instrument: Detailed Guide
Most parents want their kids to learn a musical instrument but they are not sure which instrument their child should take up.
Here are some common responses from parents/children:
- My son has a good ear for music but he seems to be interested in almost all the musical instruments. Though I don’t want to discourage him, I’m not sure if its possible to learn to play all the musical instruments, and how to persuade him to focus only on a few of them.
- The problem is that at times you’re not in a position to choose the music instrument. For example, when I was in school, the band director just randomly matched the students with the musical instruments. I was asked to play the drums, probably because I had a larger body frame.
- I didn’t enjoy it much, and few months later I switched to trumpet, but by then I was far behind others and was struggling to catch up. After school, I never played much. Don’t start them too early
- There are several instruments that a child can start on. But then its advisable not to make them start too early, they need to be able to read first or they cant read the lyrics and also may not have the adequate concentration levels. Also, wind instruments require better lung capacity so for such instruments you need to be around 8 to 10 years i guess.
- You may take help from your music teacher at school. I think that is the best bet. And you need to practice as well.
- I am 12 and I play the Clarinet in both my concert band, and Jazz band classes at my school. I don’t have any specific musical tastes and I like classical music, rock, pop and even folk. I like listening to music very much, but I can’t sing very well so I just privately hum. I wish I could sing better.
Most parents go through this phase of uncertainty. Hence, as parents, it is important to familiarize yourself with the different types of instruments, so that you can explain the basic differences between them, to your child, and also select an appropriate one depending on your kid’s personality type.
When choosing a musical instrument, it’s also important to consider the child’s body type and personality as well as their interests, to determine the best instrument for the child to learn.
How to choose an instrument for your child
Here’s what a few studies have shown about how kids choose their music instruments (though this is not really conclusive). Children usually tend to get attracted toward certain musical instruments based on their dominant sense:
- Visual (See)
Children with strong visual senses, usually prefer playing instruments such as the keyboards/piano because you play it by looking at the keys, and make the visual connection between your fingers. - Auditory (Hear)
Auditory children usually prefer string instrument (guitar, violin), something that can be played by ear rather than practicing off a score. - Tactile (Touch)
Tactile children enjoy group lessons, and prefer physically demanding instruments such as trombones, tubas, or cellos (they love physically wrapping themselves around an instrument). - Taste and smell
Taste and smell children respond to magical-type instruments, such as flute or harp, for the way it feels, or because it reminds them of a special movie, or because someone in the house likes it.
The above are just guidelines and you can use them to make a judgment in case your child has a preference for some instruments. However, it does not mean that just because your child has one of these dominant senses, they will be able to master the instrument. Choosing the appropriate instrument however ensures that the child will practice for a much longer period, and probably not quit midway.
In case your child is not sure about what instrument to learn, then choose any instrument for which you can find a good music teacher/school around so that it becomes easier to take the lessons.
But it would still be worthwhile to go through the following steps before you do that.
- Talk to them and explain to them the different categories of musical instruments
- Explain to them what the instruments are made of, and how they have to be played.
- Let your children listen to the various instruments; it’s easy to do it using a computer. There are several websites that will have samples, or you can check out Youtube.
- Show your kids what the instruments look like, and let them touch it, investigate it, play it. You can visit music shops or go to some music schools.
- A music shop or school is good because it will let your child see the differences and its easier to do a comparison.
- Finally, let your child decide what musical instrument is best for him/her. They need to feel comfortable with the musical instrument they have selected.
Before buying a decent quality instrument, its best to expose your child to various kinds of instruments, and let them see for themselves how they feel and how they produce the sound.
Introduce Students to Musical Instruments in Schools
Most schools have choirs and bands in which students can participate and its a great thing if students get the opportunity to experience what it is like to play in an orchestra or band. So, you can make use of that opportunity if it’s available. Such schools have music teachers to teach the various instruments of the orchestra.
School band instruments that kids can play, and are taught in schools:
- String Instruments (Violins, Violas, Cellos, Bass instruments)
- Woodwinds (Flute, Clarinet, Sax)
- Brass Instruments (Trumpets, Trombones, Tubas, French horns)
- Various Percussion Instruments
- Other instruments such as harmonica, synths, and so on.
Educators believe that every school must have dedicated music teachers for band and orchestra programs so that students get to take music lessons.
The best way is to get some seniors to demonstrate their respective instruments to a young group of students, and post the instrumental demonstration, let the young kids try out the various instruments in the brass, wind, strings, and woodwind family.
For most students, it’s going to be an awe-inspiring experience, as most of them would be playing an instrument for the first time.
Related: Check out these child prodigies on various music instruments
More Factors to Keep in Mind
There are some other factors that you need to keep in mind before you select the best musical instrument for your Kids to learn.
Check the availability of music teachers and schools in your locality/area where you live. It may not be feasible for your child to travel a long distance to take lessons. In case you find a music school/teacher, you need to weigh the pros and cons of “group vs private” lessons.
You’ll definitely need to buy a musical instrument for your child. For that, you need to think about various things such as budget and space for the instrument (a piano or a tuba takes more space compared to other instruments and can be expensive).
You also need to factor in your child’s age, build and temperament. Grown up kids may find it easier to blow a brass instrument compared to the smaller kids. Certain instruments can be heavier and require more physical strength. Introvert kids might be more comfortable playing the flute or keyboards rather than drums, and so on.
Once you have identified a musical instrument for your child, and identified a good music teacher/school around, you should buy a decent quality musical instrument and get your kids started with music lessons.
If the musical instrument that your kid likes is expensive, consider renting the instrument for about 4 to 6 weeks and see if your child really has the inclination toward that instrument; based on that, you can decide to buy the instrument.
We have listed several starter instruments here for learning that have been recommended by teachers for students.
More Useful links
- Music lessons for kids
- Free Kids Piano Music
- Kids Playing Guitar: Amazing Videos
- Happy Birthday To You
- More popular music and songs for kids
- Types of Guitars Available for Children
- Pink Guitar for Girls
- Guitar Hero and other gaming equipment
KeytarHQ editorial team includes musicians who write and review products for pianists, keyboardists, guitarists & other musicians. KeytarHQ is the best online resource for information on keyboards, pianos, synths, keytars, guitars and music gear for musicians of all abilities, ages and interests.
Looking for Kids musical instruments for my Grandchildren. I have 4 grandkids and am looking for a portable piano or a guitar for them to learn. It needs to be a bit sturdy (you know how kids are) and should last at least for a couple of years. No idea what to look for and how much would it cost. But preferably would prefer it to cost less than 100 dollars so that I can get a couple. Any suggestion for a decent kids musical instrument would be appreciated. — ‘Grandpa’
You can go in for any lighted musical toys that make sound. They’re fun to learn and will last few years. There are several models, just choose whatever fits your budget.
It would have helped if you had mentioned the age group of your grand kids. If they are in the 5-7 years group, the lighted music keyboards will be too big for them, and not very comfortable for them to start learning. Not an ideal beginner piano keyboard for that age group.
Casio mini keyboard or a toy piano will be a better and portable option for your kids. For older kids 7-8 years, you should ideally ask them what they would prefer – a piano or a guitar.