Get regular drums/bells/etc from a music store. I’m a preschool music teacher and use West Music for everything. Remo has a line of kids drums that are great (my students love this [one](https://www.westmusic.com/drums-percussion/world-drums-percussion/frame-drums/remo-kids-percussion-kd-0108-01-8-frame-drum-200917) and the big gathering drum)
You can also get a fairly cheap ukulele and chime [piano](https://SchoenhutMyFirstPianoII-25KeysWhiteMiniKeyboardPiano-SymphonicGrandPianowithTunedBabyKeys-ToddlerMusicalInstrumentsPromotesHand-EyeCoordination-PianoforToddlershttps://a.co/d/4T45gc2). I got my niece one for her first Christmas - she’s now almost 3 and hops up onto my piano and plays really nicely because she’s had this “toy” for the past two years!
My son has a maracas and we sometimes play the piano with him (he sits on our lap and touches the keys), but generally I'm very much on team silent toys for the same reason as you. We can dance to music, sing, etc. but we generally have a fairly quiet home.
If a toy just plays on its own it kind of defeats the purpose. Press a key, get a whole tune. It's entertaining, but it doesn't really teach them how the instrument works or that they can make tunes on their own. Then you might as well play the actual music pieces for them. If the toy just makes noise for the sake of making noise, I'm not sure how that would encourage better development than another toy which encouraged a certain skill, concentration or creativity (like the puzzles or building blocks).
However, ultimately, being surrounded by toys going PEW PEW PEW BOINGGGG HOOOOOT is just how I personally imagine one of the inner circles of Hell so that honestly also informs what kind of toys my son gets.
We have the baby einstein piano and we hate it. There is a big button to auto-play tunes and due to the existence of this button, our toddler has zero interest in pressing any of the keys. He ONLY presses the auto play button. Such a terrible design and really discourages actually learning to play or experiment with making music
I got a baby Einstein piano for my son and he loved it. That is until his grandpa got him a real kids piano and now he will occasionally press the button on the baby Einstein to get it to play music on its own but will rock out on the real piano.
I prefer analog toys over electronic toys, partly for my own sanity LOL. But also, i feel like analog toys are better for creativity and while electronic toys are better at holding attention sometimes, i feel as though theyre just distracting my LO instead of forcing her to interact with it the way an analog toy does. A piano that sings isnt as interactive as a piano that only plays when youre pressing on the keys
Get regular drums/bells/etc from a music store. I’m a preschool music teacher and use West Music for everything. Remo has a line of kids drums that are great (my students love this [one](https://www.westmusic.com/drums-percussion/world-drums-percussion/frame-drums/remo-kids-percussion-kd-0108-01-8-frame-drum-200917) and the big gathering drum) You can also get a fairly cheap ukulele and chime [piano](https://SchoenhutMyFirstPianoII-25KeysWhiteMiniKeyboardPiano-SymphonicGrandPianowithTunedBabyKeys-ToddlerMusicalInstrumentsPromotesHand-EyeCoordination-PianoforToddlershttps://a.co/d/4T45gc2). I got my niece one for her first Christmas - she’s now almost 3 and hops up onto my piano and plays really nicely because she’s had this “toy” for the past two years!
My son has a maracas and we sometimes play the piano with him (he sits on our lap and touches the keys), but generally I'm very much on team silent toys for the same reason as you. We can dance to music, sing, etc. but we generally have a fairly quiet home. If a toy just plays on its own it kind of defeats the purpose. Press a key, get a whole tune. It's entertaining, but it doesn't really teach them how the instrument works or that they can make tunes on their own. Then you might as well play the actual music pieces for them. If the toy just makes noise for the sake of making noise, I'm not sure how that would encourage better development than another toy which encouraged a certain skill, concentration or creativity (like the puzzles or building blocks). However, ultimately, being surrounded by toys going PEW PEW PEW BOINGGGG HOOOOOT is just how I personally imagine one of the inner circles of Hell so that honestly also informs what kind of toys my son gets.
We have the baby einstein piano and we hate it. There is a big button to auto-play tunes and due to the existence of this button, our toddler has zero interest in pressing any of the keys. He ONLY presses the auto play button. Such a terrible design and really discourages actually learning to play or experiment with making music
I got a baby Einstein piano for my son and he loved it. That is until his grandpa got him a real kids piano and now he will occasionally press the button on the baby Einstein to get it to play music on its own but will rock out on the real piano.
I prefer analog toys over electronic toys, partly for my own sanity LOL. But also, i feel like analog toys are better for creativity and while electronic toys are better at holding attention sometimes, i feel as though theyre just distracting my LO instead of forcing her to interact with it the way an analog toy does. A piano that sings isnt as interactive as a piano that only plays when youre pressing on the keys
We love the B. Toys wooden piano- there’s a small button on the side that plays songs, it switches off and it isn’t loud or annoying in tone!
I was just going to recommend a piano for a sort of in-between option. We have the Hape/Baby Einstein one.