presents for babies that are musical

joanmul

I have twin grand children/babies/girls. They'll be 1 1/2 at Xmas. They love music, one of them more so than the other. I've gotten them presents of musical toys like a musical table with buttons on it that plays different music. I would like to get them something more sophisticated this xmas as I think they might have graduated from the table (they live in Berlin). Has anybody got suggestions? They won't be able to bring the toys back to Berlin so I'd like something that they would come back to and enjoy.

Moonbeam

my kids love the kids keyboards,they also have a roll up keyboard mat, and an imaginarium mat with feet on it that they step on and it makes music.
They can play with them together or on their own and love them.

This sounds odd. But Tuning Forks. Seriously. It is amazing how early they can learn to identify notes and pitch and all that.

My daughter got into our tuning forks early. Just found them one day. Let her play with them. She loved them. By age two she was able to turn away - let us twang one - and she would turn back and tell us which one it was from a line up. Now at age 3 you can almost use HER for tuning as if a guitar string is even slightly off she puts on a face like she just bit a lemon.

The other thing is a harmonica. I am amazed at how early children figure out how to play different notes on the suck - blow - and how early they are able to use their tongue to play just one note. At age two and half our daugther could slap a harmonica straight in her mouth and blow a note without even pausing to make sure her tongue was in the right spot to block the other holes.

Some things come so naturally to kids - that people like me have to spend weeks learning - that I find myself in envious awe half the time.

iguana

I've got my son a selection of musical instruments for his first birthday next month. I have him a drum, cymbals, toy trumpet, xylophone, maracas, etc. My parents are getting him a little guitar and he has my brother's old Casio keyboard. He won't be able to produce genuine music with all of them but he can practice the motions and we can see what he enjoys most so if he is still very into music when he's a bit older I'll know what type of real instrument would suit him. The tuning forks idea is intriguing.

A bit different but I've also got him a baby trampoline as he loves holding something to keep him steady while he jumps up and down (dances) to music. So he'll love the trampoline for dancing on.

pwurple

A bunch of small instruments would be really fun, if you are getting a harmonica, maybe put in a couple of tin whistles? My nieces love theirs. You can get childrens bodhrans as well if you want to be even more irishy.

Run noisy toys past the parents first though maybe!

Glinda

Granny bought my two tin whistles for Christmas one year - cue hours of earsplitting screeching and whistling. We got the kids to leave the whistles in Granny's to play there and they mysteriously disappeared after a few weeks :P

Seriously though, don't buy anything that plays slightly out of tune. If you really want to splash out a digital piano will absorb them for hours and they can wear earphones so it doesn't drive everyone around the bend while they are 'practising'.