As a parent and guardian, you always wish to do the best for your child, giving them the best platform possible to be the best version of themselves. You hear and read a lot of information about what is and what is not good for your child.
Music and musical instruments are some of the things that have many benefits for your child. In general, children over the age of three can safely learn to play guitars that are specifically made for toddlers. Want to learn more? Read ahead.
In a hurry to learn about the best guitars for toddlers?
Well, the best toddler guitar depends on the age of your child. The Baby Shark’s Big Show! EEL-ectric Guitar is the best toy guitars for toddlers.
VTech Zoo Jamz Guitar is the best guitars for 3 year olds, and the YEZI Kids Toy Classical Ukulele Guitar is the best guitars for 4 year olds.
A lot of guitars that are marketed for babies and toddlers are toy guitars. This is because a guitar as an instrument is hard to learn for toddlers. Most toy guitars for toddlers are basically handheld musical instrument toy.
Getting started with a junior guitar early in life can have great benefits for your child. Let’s look at some of the benefits of learning a musical instrument for kids.
Benefits & Advantages Of Learning A Musical Instrument for Kids
- Musical Instruments teach Patience to your Kids
Music and musical instruments are a skill that takes a lot of effort and hard work to learn over time. So, patience is one of the virtues you can teach your kids when they learn a musical instrument.
If you or any family member is or has been a musician or come from a musical background, they can guide your child as well in their journey to learn an instrument.
A toddler-size guitar can be a great starting point for your kid. The guitar is a fun instrument to learn that has many future prospects for your child.
If you want to teach and educate your child on how to play a musical instrument as a toddler, guitar for toddler is a fun instrument they can try out.
- Musical Instruments improves a child’s coordination
Learning any musical instrument comes with various benefits for kids. One of the best benefits is their improved coordination. Depending on the instrument, the type of coordination your child learns might change, but overall, it’s a great tool to improve your child’s physical and mental skills.
When it comes to guitars, children can learn a lot about hand coordination, hand-eye coordination, and rhythm skills. A guitar for toddler with strings for kids above the age of three can be a great starting point for them. These skills are practical and help your child as they grow up. It can also spark an interest in your kid to pursue music further.
- Musical Instruments teaches children about self-expression
Nowadays, more and more children from a young age are becoming susceptible to mental illnesses, learning a musical instrument from a formative age can have great benefits for your child.
Music allows children to find something they have control over. This gives a healthy way for them to express their emotions.
Guitars are exceptionally expressive instruments with which you can do a lot if you put your heart and soul into them.
Guitars can be used to create music of all genres, and styles, so a toddler acoustic guitar or preschool guitar can be a great starting point for your kid’s self-expression journey.
These are some of the benefits of learning a musical instrument, especially a guitar.
For toddlers/children below the age of three, a guitar musical toy is appropriate to get started, while for kids above three, they can start playing a toy guitar.
Best Guitars for Toddlers: Children Below Age of Three
Baby Shark’s Big Show! EEL-ectric Guitar
Baby shark is a very popular song on YouTube, and it is also a kid’s favorite show on Nickelodeon. So, if your child is a fan of the song or the show, this toy guitar can be a great surprise for them.
It comes in a bright color that is attractive for your kid. The guitar is shaped like a character from the Nickelodeon show, and the toy is an official toy from the show.
These factors make it a great choice for you to expose your children to music. This toy has three modes. You can play acoustic guitar sounds from this toy, electric guitar sounds, and you can also play over some music on this toy.
These features make it a very fun toy for your kids. This toy does not have strings that produce the sound; it is an electronic toy.
This toy also has a special eel-ectric challenge mode that requires children to remember the pattern and play it back.
As a toy, it requires three AA batteries to function. These batteries are included with the toy when you purchase it from Amazon.
VTech Zoo Jamz Guitar
The VTech Zoo Jamz Guitar is another great option for kids below three. It is perhaps the best toddler guitar with strap available in the market. Starting from a wide range of sounds to fun animal noises, a whammy bar like tail to add effects.
The playing options on this toy are endless. Your child/kid will have a great time with this toy, as there are many ways they can play with it.
This toy guitar has light up buttons on the neck that can be make various animal sounds. It also has a play along mode, which lets kids play along over kid-friendly songs.
You can also get acoustic, electric, and distorted guitar sound from this toy that can teach your child how to rock. You can play and create your own music on this toy as well.
In terms of the build quality, this is one of the best toy guitars available as it is sturdy and built well, with very few people complaining about defects.
It runs on two AA batteries which are included for demo purposes. You need to buy new batteries for using this toy.
Baby Einstein Sing & Strum Magic Touch Ukulele
The Baby Einstein Sing & Strum Magic Touch Ukelele is a fun toy that can be played by children and kids as young as six months old.
It features animal sound buttons such as cow and duck along with instrument sounds of a banjo and ukelele. You can also play six melodies on this toy with its easy to activate magic touch technology.
This toy can be a great playing and learning tool for your kids as it improves their motor functions and understanding of cause and effect.
You can encourage your child to play their own music on this toy with the included sounds of a ukulele and banjo. As this toy can be used by children above the age of six months, it has great potential.
The build quality of this toy is pretty good. It is built out of wood which is a great feature.
But, given that it is built out of wood, it is recommended that parents supervise their children when they are playing with this toy. This toy requires three AA batteries which are included with the toy.
Best Guitars for Children Above Age of Three
YEZI Kids Toy Classical Ukulele Guitar
If your kid/child is over the age of three, they can start to play real instruments instead of just toys. The YEZI Kids Toy Classical Ukulele Guitar is a great choice for your child’s first non-toy musical instrument.
As a nylon string ukulele, your child can play their own music on this instrument and try to learn how to play the guitar on this instrument.
This ukulele is very lightweight and can be played by children easily. You can especially help them learn skills of rhythm through strumming and other guitar techniques.
A pick is attached to the body of this ukulele on a string which is a great feature, in my opinion. Learning to hold a pick from a young age can go a long way in helping your child learn guitar faster and easier.
The build quality of this ukulele is pretty good with carbon nylon strings as well to reduce the possibility of broken strings. The surface material is coated so as to not hurt your child when they are playing the instrument.
The neck and the overall action of the toy are set well so kids can easily play. Overall, it is a good toy that can be a great first instrument for your child.
Loog Mini 3 String Acoustic Kids Guitar
The Loog Mini is a popular kids guitar nowadays, having recently won multiple awards. It is a very interesting instrument as it is not a full six string guitar. It is a three string acoustic guitar with the shape of an electric guitar.
One of the best features of this three string guitar is that it is very beginner friendly and provides a lot of resources that can be help children learn the guitar.
Resources include flashcards for chords and chord shapes. You also get access to a mobile app that can help you learn guitar easily. Even though the Loog guitar has only three strings, it is still built out of real woods.
The body of this guitar is built out of basswood and the neck out of maple. These are great woods for a guitar. This guitar has nylon strings that make it easy to play.
Overall, the Loog Mini is perhaps one of the best first guitars for your kid. It is not ideal to start on a guitar with three strings, but it can be a great starting point.
The popularity of this Loog guitar comes from its good build quality and kid friendly features; it is a great option for kids over three.
KidKraft Lil’ Symphony Wooden Play Guitar
The KidKraft Lil’ Symphony Wooden Play Guitar is perhaps one of my if not most favorite guitars for kids simply because it has six playable strings.
Another great feature is that this guitar features actual guitar strings that you can replace as well if needed, unlike many other guitars for toddlers. As a six string acoustic guitar, this guitar can be a great starting point for kids just over three.
The guitar’s body is built from plastic and composite wood with real functioning tuners.
The guitar also features steel strings which are very sturdy but can hurt the fingers of kids when they play with it for a long time. So, parent supervision is advised.
Other than that, as an acoustic guitar, you can rock with it as much as you want without any worries. It is a perfect miniature guitar.
It should be pointed out that this model is indeed a toy guitar, so you will not get much out of it. The tuning stability, as an example, is not really good.
My advice would be to consider this as a toy only. Kids can pretend to play guitar on it, maybe even learn some chord shapes, but this is not a guitar that they can use to learn playing guitar in the long term.
How to choose the appropriate guitar for your kid?
You can choose a great guitar toy or a toy guitar for your kid based on the recommendations in this article. These recommendations are some of the best guitars available for toddlers and kids in the market today.
It should be mentioned that this article is specifically for toddlers below the age of three and kids between the ages of three to five. The ones I shared above are the absolute Best Guitars For Toddlers, but you are free to choose any that you like.
You can visit my blog on half-size guitars and the best electric guitars for kids for kids above five.
As this article has already established, guitars and any musical instrument have a lot of benefits to help your child realize and unlock their true potential.
Guitars are one of the most fun and rocking instruments to pick up, so why not let it be the first instrument for your child as well?
Feel free to drop your comments down below.
Anindya is a Self-taught Musician and a Home Studio Owner who likes sharing his two cents on Guitars, Gears, and Music. You can find his Music on Spotify and YouTube.