It’s that time of year! Here are some of my home’s most tested and loved musical toys … but I’d love to hear what you’ll be including for your family or in your studio!
B. Symphony’s Musical Toy Orchestra is for ages 3+, but a HUGE hit with kids and adults alike in our house! It’s safe for younger ages as the pieces are chew-proof (so far!), durable, and definitely not too small. A student purchased this when I was pregnant with my first son, and the dad was so excited to gift it to me, saying, “it’s like beginner’s composing and arranging! You’ll use up the batteries before he does!” He was right. The demo mode plays through various kid’s and classical songs, while in play mode you can pick your orchestration for each song by putting the instruments on the orchestra ledges. It is a beautiful and colorful toy as well, making this a must have at our house! It also has an impressive selection of songs, you won’t be easily bored. Sales for this gem only come along so often, but at the time of this post Amazon has it on a Black Friday Sale 🙂 Don’t miss out!
Munchkin’s Mozart Magic Cube is for 0+, and has also been a major hit at our house. Featuring 5 instruments along with the full orchestra, your youngest family members can experience 8 of Mozart’s most popular songs – while choosing which instruments they want to hear together! My son loves that he can easily control turning the music on/off/switching. A simple, interactive toy, this also teaches early orchestration. As is always important to me, it has good sound while also sporting a power button!
I have featured The Story Orchestra Series before, but they just keep adding more titles and equal beauty! With phenomenal sound, artwork, and story telling, these will be beloved books you’ll want on your bookshelf forever. They’ve added “I Can Play” interactive titles, the “My First” series for your youngest readers/musicians, and interactive musical puzzles to the titles this year. I can’t sing the praise of this series enough … worth every penny and a beautiful way to introduce your household to the classics!
Titles include:
- The Four Seasons
- The Nutcracker
- The Planets
- Carnival of the Animals
- A Midsummer’s Night Dream
- Peter and the Wolf
- In the Hall of the Mountain King
- Swan Lake
- Sleeping Beauty
- Magic Flute
- I Can Play
- I Can Play: The Nutcracker
- My First Orchestra: The Nutcracker
- My First Orchestra: Swan Lake
- The Nutcracker: Musical Puzzle
- Swan Lake: Musical Puzzle
- Sleeping Beauty: Musical Puzzle
- And so many more already announced as coming in the year ahead!
Does your family have a music streaming service at your fingertips? I choose Spotify, but it could be anything from Pandora to Apple Music as well. My favorite thing about streaming services is that you can easily enjoy all of the music you love and also easily discover new music mixed in or in already-created playlists. Filling your home with any and all music is a gift to your family that keeps giving every day of the year!
Ellie Holcomb’s sweet books are another music favorite in our home. The artwork is stunning, and “Sounding Joy” is a beautiful Christmas book as an alternative to Santa. The books themselves are lyrical and rhyming, but the real gold here is that Ellie has produced children’s EP albums (available on Spotify) that coincide with each book. The opening song on each IS the book in song form. Click the images below to view further!
These last few suggestions are not ones that have been tested in my home or studio. However, they are on my wishlist and will hopefully be tested very soon!
The virtuoso bears above are beautiful toys and play over a half hour of classical music each! They currently have Beethoven, Chopin, and Mozart available. Amazon has high reviews on these!
The Lovevery Music set is also a beautiful (albeit expensive) way to get interactive with music at a young age in your home! I especially love the metronome that equates different tempos to animal speeds. This is listed for 18mos – 4 years old.
What are some of your favorite musical toys and memories you have gifted in your home? I’d love to hear all about them!
Happy shopping,
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