The Most Appropriate Musical Instruments For Children

Musical Instruments For Children, Which Are The Most Suitable?

Many studies defend that music and musical instruments for children have a key role during development. It is able to stimulate the right part of your brain where feelings and abilities are found.

In addition, it makes them improve their imagination and creativity, experience new experiences and enrich themselves from all this during their growth stage.

It also improves the concentration and psychomotor development of the youngest, which translates into greater physical performance (especially thanks to dancing), better analytical skills and a release of stress, which helps them sleep even better at night.

On the other hand, music will improve their auditory perception, recognizing sounds more easily, and will allow them to communicate and socialize with greater security, through the study of this language of expression.

For all these reasons, many teachers and parents are committed to introducing some musical instrument into the lives of children.

The teaching of music to children occurs almost like a game. However, it represents a great stimulus to develop your skills and sharpen your abilities and sensitivity. In other words, playing a musical instrument has many benefits for children. But how to choose the most appropriate ones to start with? This article offers some keys: the guitar is attractive to the child and is not expensive, the drums offers more chances of play, the flute is of a manageable size and the piano, although complicated, has advantages for learning at school.

Music is a very enriching tool in the education of children. But, in addition, it can contribute to the good development and growth of the little ones.

Musical educator A. Keller, author of the blog Where Learning Is a Happy Experience, highlights the importance for children of introducing musical creation into their training. In this way, music serves as a tool that allows you to enhance your ability to move, among other abilities, explains Keller.

Appropriate instruments to start

However, not all instruments are created equal when it comes to nurturing a child’s love of music.

The size of the musical instrument should be proportional to the size of the child

In the first place, the size of the device must be taken into account, which should be proportional to the size of the minor. It is important to remember that when the child is very young, almost all instruments will be too big for him. Even when you are a certain age, you may not be very comfortable with a cello or harp.

5 Very Appropriate Musical Instruments for Preschoolers

Although it is true, these instruments stand out for belonging mostly to the family of idiophones and membranophones, within percussion. However, we can also find some children under 6 years old who practice with more complex instruments such as flutes, pianos, ukuleles, perhaps more appropriate for slightly older children.

With that said, let’s look at some examples:

1. The Xylophone

   It is a more appropriate “laminiphone” musical instrument for younger children to give their first beats as percussionists. Each of the plates has a different size and tuning, somewhat similar to a piano in terms of structure. Thanks to the xylophone, children will be able to experiment during their development stage with the different rhythms and combinations of musical notes that this instrument allows them to create.

2. The Bells

   Bells are one of the most fun and easy-to-use children’s musical instruments. They are usually a set of 8 small bells of different colors capable of covering the diatonic scale. The bells are very interactive, they attract a lot of attention to the smallest children, they can be shared among several children, improving socialization and, in addition, they usually have a very affordable price.

3. The Maracas

   If children like something, it is rattles, and therefore also brands. These instruments are really simple: a hollow sphere with pieces of sound elements inside (seeds, stones, rice) and a handle to hold. In this way, shaking them creates a very pleasant and fun sound, which makes them perfect as a musical instrument for children.

4. The Keys

   If the keys can be characterized by something, it is by their simplicity, which makes them ideal as musical instruments for preschool children. Basically it is two wooden cylinders that are percussed one against the other to make it sound.

5. The Tambourine

   It is another of the classic musical instruments for children. It is a frame drum that is characterized by being an idiophone and a membranphone at the same time. So it works either by hitting it against your hand or other body parts or simply by shaking it and ringing its bells. Another advantage of this musical instrument is that it is easy to play the tambourine and dance at the same time, which implies being able to carry out two activities and practice two dynamic arts at the same time (music and dance).

Top 5 Musical Instruments For Children

At the age of 6, children leave the preschool stage behind to enter a new phase that will last until they are 12 years old and that unfortunately they will only live once. During this stage, children begin to expand their social circle and develop their executive functions, better attention span and decision making.

Of course, they are still children and not all instruments are going to adapt in the same way to their abilities and preferences. Even so, they are already beginning to be older and possibly the instrument with which they are beginning to become familiar could accompany them for the rest of their lives, although they can always try others and continue to enrich themselves.

Another of the key points that condition the final choice are the dimensions of the instrument in relation to the size of the child. If the instrument is too big, the child will feel comfortable and this could lead to frustration or even physical fatigue or physical problems.

So, we see some examples of musical instruments for ideal children during this stage of their lives:

1. The “Sweet” Flute

   It is, without a doubt, the instrument par excellence in primary schools. In the first place, it is manageable, transportable and light, easy to play and with a soft, sweet and pleasant sound.
   On the other hand, it allows children to begin to control diaphragmatic breathing and of course to begin to understand the first musical concepts.
   Finally, it is an excellent introduction to the transverse flute or other more complex types of flute that you will be able to start practicing later and with greater ease thanks to the academic foundation that playing the recorder has given you.

2. Digital Keyboards

   Another of the most common musical instruments for children is the piano. However, pianos are often expensive, take up a lot of space, and are difficult to master because they have too many keys.
   Luckily, there are many digital keyboards to start with, with a lower price and that can serve as a first contact. In addition, it is said that playing the piano can help improve children’s academic results and does not require constant tuning as is the case with other instruments (something that children appreciate).

3. The Ukulele

   It is an instrument that is lighter, cheaper, more manageable, transportable and easier to play than the guitar, and it is also a lot of fun. It is a perfect choice to get into the family of stringed musical instruments easily.
   The ukulele only has 4 strings and they are also made of nylon (easier to press), they are not excessively noisy and are very attractive to children. In addition, learning to play the ukulele will mean having a long way to go if you later decide to start with the guitar.

4. Percussion Instruments

   Instruments such as the battery, the drum, the deaf boxes are very appropriate as musical instruments for children, since it allows them to learn, while they are practically playing.
   The drums, for example, allow you to experience many sounds and at the same time release a lot of energy and stress. In addition, there are digital options to be able to play and learn without having to disturb the people in the immediate environment.
   Finally, the development of rhythm with this type of musical instrument is amazing and greatly improves the motor skills of children.

5. Other Woodwind Instruments Recommended For Children: The Soprano Saxophone, The Alto Saxophone Or The Clarinet

   They are usually ideally sized instruments for children and are some of the most in-demand musical instruments for children in marching bands.
   They also have a shape that attracts them quite a bit. While it is true, they will require a higher level of dedication than the recorder, but they will develop great musical skills over time, thanks to starting so young.

What Musical Instruments To Choose For More Talented Children?

It is very complicated to choose the right musical instruments for children, since it is early to know what they want and to be able to give them an option with which they feel comfortable and motivated, and do not see it as a boring obligation.

Even so, what we can do is limit the options that exist a little, since there are musical instruments that imply greater ease and a suitable size for children. In this way, the little ones will be able to achieve beautiful melodies and rhythms in less time, and playing will not become a frustration, if not quite the opposite.

In addition, there are some musical instruments that, due to their characteristics, their possibilities for play or the ease with which they are learned, are more suitable for children. The options are extensive, but below are four proposals for the little one to start in the fascinating world of music.

1. The guitar: attractive and inexpensive

   The guitar has the advantage of being very popular: many of the singers and leaders of the most well-known rock and pop bands play the guitar. Also, it is not very expensive. The downside is that it can be difficult for a child, especially at first. Reaching for the strings and pressing them hard enough are usually not easy tasks for the little one.

2. The drums: more chances of the game

   Drumming may seem difficult to teach to children. However, it is a musical instrument that can begin to be learned when the child is about five years old.
   The drums allow more games and experience more sounds than other musical instruments.
   It allows more games and experience more sounds than other musical instruments. Of course, it is not necessary for the child to start practicing with a large drum kit, with many cymbals and drums: those adapted for children include fewer pieces.
   This instrument is a bit expensive and difficult to transport, although since it is disassembled it is much less so than the piano.

3. The Flute: a manageable size for the child

   There are many types of flute, from the sweet to the transverse, of different prices and levels of difficulty for learning. In any case, one quality makes them very convenient: their size. They do not take up much space and are light and easy to transport.
   As it is a wind instrument, it helps the child to learn to control his breathing and how to expel the air.

4. The piano: complicated but with advantages for learning

   The piano is one of the musical instruments that takes the longest to master . Other aspects against its choice for children is the high price of the instrument and the large space it occupies. An alternative is to opt for an organ, much smaller and more portable (although it is not a piano).
   Music schools teach to play the piano from the age of three and with simple exercises. With the passage of time, there will be time to make them more complex.
   There are studies that assure that learning to play the piano in preschool helps the child to obtain good academic results. However, other scientists maintain that more studies are needed in this regard.

The Best Musical Instrument Games For Kids

In addition to all the very useful musical instruments for children for their development, there are also games to enhance their hearing capacity and learn to relate to music, while the children have fun, dance or sing.

My 2 favorite musical instrument games for kids are: Musical Chairs and Move to the Rhythm of the Instrument. Let’s see what they consist of:

1. The Musical Chairs

   You need a group of children wanting to have a good time, some chairs in the middle and a device capable of reproducing sounds.
   It basically consists of emitting different sounds of musical instruments in an audio player and when the previously chosen sound sounds, the children must recognize them and quickly sit in one of the chairs.
   Of course, sometimes it’s easy to confuse instruments and sit down when not playing, thereby disqualifying you from the round.

2. Move To The Rhythm Of The Instrument

   In this game, each instrument will be associated with a special movement, so when it sounds, everyone must perform the specific movement associated with that sound.
   A very ingenious way to learn to identify sounds while we dance and have a great time.

Final Words

When it comes to choosing one or another musical instrument for the child, the important thing is, in any case, to let the child try and experiment with them . The fondness for an instrument (and with it, for musical creation) can arise from a certain special sound.

In other cases, the child may discover that it is easier for him to handle a certain device. But a love of harmony can also arise in response to a child’s fascination with a particular artist.

As far as possible, it is advisable to give him the freedom to choose the instrument he prefers, regardless of the economic aspect. And, of course, that no elder tries to impose their own tastes or expectations or their own frustrated desires.

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