Music & Rhythm

Baby musical instruments come first here, then real wooden instruments for older children: from a maraca for a newborn to a recorder for a five-year-old. Rattles, rainsticks, drums, xylophones and handbells: musical instruments as toys, grouped by what a child can manage at each age.

Baby musical instruments for the first year

In the first months, sound comes from grasping and shaking. The wooden baby maracas and the white sound shaker egg, from 6 months, are light enough to hold, and a rainstick turned slowly gives a long cascade that babies follow with their eyes. These infant instruments answer the smallest movement, which is exactly what keeps a baby shaking.

Musical instruments for toddlers from 12 months

Around the first birthday, a child starts to strike rather than shake. The 2-in-1 hammering bench with a xylophone suits that stage from 12 months (more ideas among our hammering toys), and the lion xylophone walker adds music to first steps. From 18 months, the rainbow xylophone and the three-sided musical activity tower are favourite instruments for 1 year olds who can already grip a beater.

Real instruments for children from 3 years

From 3, the choice widens: claves, a guiro to scrape, castanets, a triangle, tambourines and a marching drum with drumsticks. A boxed set of 12 percussion pieces makes a ready-made band for siblings, and the 8-note handbell set introduces the scale. Wind instruments such as the slide flute come next, then the harmonica from 4, and the recorder and acoustic guitar from 5.

Early childhood instruments in the daily routine

Give each instrument its moment in the day: the rainstick to wind down before a nap, the maracas for a song at bath time, the drum for a march round the garden. A toddler soon fetches the right one without being asked, and music becomes part of the routine rather than a noisy extra. From 4, a child who enjoys matching noises by ear can move on from wooden musical instruments to the sound cylinders, wooden Montessori toys made for listening games in pairs.