Depending on your child’s age, select an app from our Top Music Apps for Kids list.
If you have a toddler, try the Animal sound box- learn music with cute animals app. The app showcases five colorful animals that become musical instruments by simply touching them. Every part of the animal responds to your child’s touch, so tickling the green frog’s belly produces a drumming sound. With the bird, it’s a flute. These playable animals are a hoot to explore.
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Rockin’ Preschoolers and Kindergartners
For the preschool and kindergarten set, don’t miss Toca Band. By playing with 16 adorable, quirky musicians, kids learn about orchestration. The app opens to a blank stage with eight positions waiting to be filled. Kids drag-and-drop any of the 16 musicians from the bottom of the screen to make them a part of their band. Their placement on the stage affects whether they are a headliner or accompaniment.
The pickle plays percussion by chattering his teeth, whereas the spider taps her eight legs. Amazingly, all musicians blend to play the same song. And when you place one musician in the starring spotlight, the screen changes to let you touch that musician to control his or her solo. This is hands-on digital play at its best!
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Jammin’ Grade School Kids
For elementary school kids, check out Music With Grandma. This dancing grandma loves her music, and she shares her enthusiasm by introducing kids to music theory and instruments via seven games, videos and hands-on playing of digital instruments.
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Extend These Apps with Real-World Play
In all three of the above apps, kids play virtual instruments — some are wackier than others. Try using everyday objects to create your own zany musical instruments to play with your kids. For toddlers, give them an aluminum pie pan and a wooden spoon to create instant percussion. For older kids, take a shoebox and remove the lid. Then stretch rubber bands width-wise to create strings to strum.
Use the instruments you created and then collect other noisemakers you have around your house, such as a kazoo, a recorder, keys or perhaps a keyboard. Have your kids close their eyes, and then you select one of the “instruments” to play. Ask your children to guess which object made the noise.
