If you’re looking for the best way for your toddler to learn about music, express their creativity, improve motor skills, concentration, and hand-eye coordination, and get all of their extra energy out, you might be trying to find the best toddler drum set for your child. A real drum set might be too big and expensive for your child at this
Luckily, you have lots of great options to help your toddler have as much fun drumming as possible, and all of these options are pretty affordable for anyone who is trying to live frugally or anyone who’s trying to do birthdays or Christmas on a budget. But, to cut costs, even more, you can check out ways to get free Amazon gift cards and samples online.
Here are our top picks…
Best Drum Sets for Your Toddler
Bright Starts Light Learn Drum: For ages 3 months until age two, this drum set is a good way to combine learning and play for your baby or toddler. When your toddler starts tapping on the drum, it displays lights and colors, making it even more fun to play with. The light pattern changes with each tap of the drum, encouraging your kid to keep on drumming, giving them a cool light show of creative patterns for their efforts. It also reflects kids’ faces, which will likely excite your baby to keep drumming.
There are three modes that your child can play on: numbers, colors, and drumming. It’s small, with a handle to carry, so you can take it with you on trips and excursions, so your toddler can practice wherever they go.
If you want your child to start learning music and enhance their motor skills, while also learning basic colors and numbers, this is a great starting point for a young child who isn’t quite ready for a full play drum set. Just be aware that it doesn’t come with batteries and the sensors sometimes break when adults hit it, so leave the drumming to your child!
For only $12.88, this is a super affordable option for your toddler!
B. toys – Drumroll Please – 7 Musical Instruments Toy Drum Kit for Kids 18 months + (7-Pcs): When your baby grows out of the Bright Starts Light Learn Drum, you can get them the B. toys set. This drum set is unique in that with every purchase, the company donates a portion to charity. Additionally, it comes with 7 toys to play with, including a toy drum, a tambourine, a Shaka egg, a whistle, castanets, and two drumsticks.
Your toddler will have an array of options of instruments to play with and noises to make. They’ll get to play around with all sorts of things that will be a good starting point for any instruments they want to play as they get older. If they have siblings to play with or friends over, they can have a whole orchestra with all the instruments in their set, and make all sorts of sounds.
Your toddler can wear the big drum around their neck while playing it, so they can be exposed to marching band-style drumming too.
The colors are bright and the instruments double as sensory toys, with different textures including bumps and twisty handles that will excite your toddler. For the convenience of taking the show on the road, all of the instruments fit inside the drum.
This is a great option for toddlers, made with materials that are very safe for little kids and nothing that could be accidentally swallowed. It’s also a suitable set for older kids, who will have fun playing all the instruments as well.
The only disadvantages are that the instruments are heavy, the drum is made with flexible plastic that is not particularly durable, and this set teaches coordination of playing one piece at a time, instead of a toy drum set that has multiple drum sets together, and teaches coordination of shifting back and forth between different drums. That said, it’s still a great first step for your little drummer!
For $30.73, this is a slightly more expensive option, but as it comes with so many different toys, it’s still a pretty cost-effective way to teach your toddler about music.
Vtech – KIDIBEATS LEARNING DRUM SET –
For older toddlers, usually meant for kids ages two to five years old, this is a great drum set that will not only give your child something to bang around on but also provides structured learning when they want. This interactive electronic drum set toy teaches melodies, letters, colors, and numbers. It comes with drumsticks, three drum pads, and a cymbal.
It also comes loaded with nine melodies of various musical types, so your child can learn to play pop, rock, dance music and more. Your kid only has to follow light patterns to learn each melody. Once they get one right, they can move onto the next one, encouraging them to keep trying and instilling a desire to practice their instrument long before they pick up a real one. If they don’t feel like following along with a pre-set melody, they can choose freestyle mode to harbor their creativity and makeup as many of their own sounds and rhythms as desired.
The drums can make four different types of sounds, and when your child hits the drums with a drumstick, the drums light up.
This is definitely a great choice for a drum set that will increase your child’s cognitive ability, teach your toddler about music, the alphabet, colors, and numbers, and still be really fun to play with!
Be aware you’ll need to replace the batteries that come with the drum set as they are not rechargeable and your child will likely need help from an adult in order to switch modes.
At $31.99, this is similarly priced to the B. toys drum set but offers a completely different experience. No matter what drum set you choose for your child, you have plenty of affordable and fun options to help your child learn about music and have fun while doing it at a young age!
Benefits of drums for toddlers
Babies can hear different sound types from an early age. They can differentiate their mother’s voice from the rest just a few weeks after birth. Exposure to drums enhances your toddler’s ability to decipher sounds.
Let’s face it…what parent doesn’t like lulling their baby to sleep with a lullaby? In addition to soothing children, drums can go a long way towards boosting their mood.
Playing drums, like textures and taste, aids sensory development in children. Learning percussion helps create more pathways between the cells in your child’s brain.
A great way to improve your child’s coordination is to get him a toddler drum kit. Even if he doesn’t understand the music he plays, he’ll certainly move to its rhythm. Dancing to the music not only encourages the development of motor skills but also helps with muscle strength, development, and balance.
There is no limit to the number of skills your child could develop as a result of playing drums. And what’s even better is that these skills, in turn, boost his confidence and help him succeed later on in life.
Now that you know how valuable a toddler drum kit is for your little guy, let’s look at the top options on the market.
Key Considerations when Choosing the Best Drum Set for a Toddler
Now that you know some of the best drum sets that are available on the market, it’s time for you to choose the perfect one for your child. Follow my step-by-step buying guide below to match up your personal requirements so you can make the best purchasing decision possible.
Size
Depending on the age of your child, you’re going to want to choose a suitable drum set for them. If your child is only a few months old, you’re going to want a smaller, more compact drum set. These are usually found in a ‘pad’ form, where all the interactive parts of the drum are in a single, integrated panel. This makes for the ideal start drum set that will encourage your children into using this toy.
If your child is a bit older, entering the toddler stage, it then becomes suitable to get them a more functional drum set. This means the drum pads will be styled to look more like an actual drum kit with all the features, including the pads and the cymbals, and are in a similar place to where they would be on an adult-sized drum set. To make things even more realistic, you’re likely to get drumsticks with these models.
Alternatively, you could choose a bongo-style drum. This is a single drum that is suitable for children of all ages. This can contain just as many engaging features as the other two types of the drum set, but you only have one drum pad to play on which some children may find limited and may become bored quite quickly.
Functions
Included with most of the drum sets, you will find a complete range of other built-in components that maximize your child’s experience. This can include integrated songs, melodies, and beats that your child can learn to play along to.
On some of the more high-end models, you’ll receive a whole range of different song modes, and your chosen drum set may even include different beats which can include rock, pop, dance, and classical.
If you’re serious about encouraging your child into the world of drumming, these drum sets are ideal as they can effectively learn the correct techniques for playing which can be easily transferred to a full-size drum set when they are old enough.
Playability
As with all children’s toys, you’re going to want a toy that is easy to learn to play. Great features to look out for include large drum pads, easily identifiable buttons, and large controls. This will maximize the efficiency in which your child can learn to play the drum set which will further maximize their enjoyment of the product.
Quality
As you know, drums are made to be hit. With this in mind, you’re going to want a drum set that is highly durable. This won’t be a problem with the drum sets on my list as they are all produced using high-quality materials.
But remember, the cheaper you buy, and the cheaper the materials, the more likely the low-end toys are to break.
If you’re shopping for a drum set in a physical store, it’s easy to tell how durable the set is just by looking at it and feeling the toy with your hands. However, if you’re shopping online, always look to see what materials the drum sets are made out of and which quality control measures the drum has been approved by.
Also note, when buying plastic items, try to choose a product that is BPA-free. Plastic materials that contain BPA chemicals have been proven multiple times to do damage to your child’s development, both physically and mentally.
Engagement
Some other key features to look out for when choosing the perfect drum for your child are lights and interactive sounds. It’s highly recommended that you choose a drum set that has lights that flash when your child interacts with it. This is extremely stimulating to your child’s mind and has been proven to help increase their mental development.
Other important features to look out for are vibrant and attractive colors, again stimulating your child’s mind and make the toy more appealing to play with.
Parental Controls
I completely understand that buying a drum kit may seem like the worst thing you could buy for a child. Images of your child banging away at all hours of the day will instantly spring to mind and are not what most parents would consciously choose.
However, most of the electronic drum sets included in my favorite’s lists include a handy volume control option which means your child can still enjoy the drum set, even if they are around the rest of your family.
Power
How your drum set is powered is a very important aspect to consider. The majority of children’s drum sets will be battery-powered, like all the sets on my list. This gives your child the freedom to play whenever and wherever they like.
Try to avoid the mains powered ones as they are known for being very restrictive.
If you’re looking for ways to boost your child’s mental and physical development while introducing them to an extremely beneficial talent and hobby that could last a lifetime, an electronic child’s drum set is the way forward.
Relatively inexpensive, these toys are ideal for children who are budding musicians and are the perfect way to spend some time together as a family.
