8 Best musical toys for babies and toddlers 2021 (2024)

Make wonderful music with your baby and the Lamaze Octotunes. Children squeeze, pull, tug, and hug this toy; each tentacle plays a different note when squeezed, ascending and descending a full octave. Babies respond positively to the octopus’ friendly face, and its floppy body and the fabric handle on the head makes it easy to grab onto. It has a light vanilla scent, too, to add to the sensory joy.

Heads up

Squeezing the tentacles hard enough to make a sound requires some hand strength.

Specs

• 9.5 x 10 x 13.8 inches
• 1.1 pounds
• Recommended for newborns and up

Help your baby make a joyful noise with the Baby Einstein Discovering Music Activity Table, with buttons that make the sounds of a drum, French horn, and guitar, as well as a mini keyboard that can be set to sound out individual notes, or read out numbers or colors in response to tapping, in English, Spanish, or French. If your baby is just sitting up independently, the table’s top comes off for floor play; once she’s pulling up, you can use the table’s legs to encourage standing.

Parents say

"Highly recommend! My DD turns 1 on Wednesday and we gave her an early present. She's obsessed right now. The top of the table comes off too."

Heads up

This table is not steady enough for babies to pull up on; use in table mode only when your baby can stand up on her own.

Specs

• 16.5 x 4.5 x 15 inches
• 4.88 pounds
• Recommended for 6 months and up
• 3 AAA batteries required, not included
  

Outrageously cute and appealing to kids and parents alike, this wee toy guitar rewards your little rock star with tunes if they spin the pit at its center, or plays 10 different guitar riffs and other sounds when they press the light-up buttons on the guitar’s neck. It’s sized just right to fit in your little one’s lap, too.

Parents say

“I’ve heard good things about this avocado guitar from Skip Hop.”

Heads up

The volume cannot be adjusted.

Specs

• 11 x 6 x 2.75 inches
• 9.6 ounces
• Recommended for 6 months and up
• Requires 3 AAA batteries, included
  

At home or on the go, this Soothe ‘n Groove Mobile is a great way to entertain your baby. It can transition from a crib mobile to a standalone toy that a toddler can bring with them for music wherever she goes. With 18 different tunes and 6 musical categories, there are about 40 non-repeating minutes of music for your child's musical enjoyment. Parents appreciate that the mobile’s high-quality speakers play music that sounds better than on most toys, and love the adjustable volume.

Parents say

“I loved the one I bought for my daughter. It grew with her as it detaches and becomes a mini radio for her to play with. Totally worth the money.”

Heads up

Some say this mobile can make a clicking sound when it moves.

Specs

• 4.75 x 16 x 13.5 inches
• 4.5 pounds
• Recommended for newborns and up
• 3 C batteries required, not included
  

Encouraging both movement and musical appreciation, the puppy plays music when children pull it along by its “leash,” while the legs move and the nose lights up. The three buttons on the side introduce colors, parts of the body, and numbers through playful phrases, songs and cute puppy sounds.

Heads up

Some say the string is short on this toy.

Specs

• 4.21 x 7.87 x 6.69 inches
• 13.2 ounces
• Recommended for 6 months - 3 years
• Requires 2 AA batteries, not included

There’s no shortage of fun with this colorful drum and instrument set by B Toys. With thedrum that acts as a storage case for the included instruments and keeps them all neatly together, your child can whistle, bang, and make tons of noise rockin’ out with this set. Included are castanets, a shaker egg, a whistle, a drum, tambourines, and two drumsticks, all sturdy enough to hold up to hours of making sweet music.

Parents say

“B. Toys also makes this drum set that I use to give as a gift to my nephews and nieces. I love it because it comes with like 6 different instruments that fit inside the drum too.”

Heads up

Slide whistle doesn’t work that well.

Specs

• 11.89 x 4.92 x 7.09 inches
• 1.99 pounds
• Recommended for 18 months - 3 years

Your toddler can compose and record her first masterpiece with this simple keyboard, which has a built-in microphone to capture vocals, and piano keys that play notes in the style of four different instruments: piano, bells, organ, or banjo. Or, if your child prefers, she can hit the button styled like a cat’s paw to hear every note as a meow. Other buttons provide background rhythm (samba, disco, and so on), or play ready-made tunes for inspiration. Recording is a matter of pressing a single button.

Heads up

Some wish the microphone was a bit louder.

Specs

• 19 x 10 x 2.75 inches
• 2.15 pounds
• Requires 4 AA batteries, included
• Recommended for age 3 and up

With so many ways to play, little kids go wild for the award winning Hape Pound, Tap & Shake Music Set. Little ones can hammer the balls through the open holes, allowing them to fall onto the xylophone and roll down and out with a delightful noise, or they can pull out the xylophone and play it solo, with the mallet or any other implement. The tambourine allows your child to keep a beat, and is specially made to be not-too-noisy.

Heads up

Some parents find that the xylophone pitch isn’t in tune.

Specs

• Bench: 9.5 x 5.9 x 5.3 inches; tambourine: 6.5 x 6.5 x 1.8 inches
• 3.39 pounds
• Recommended for 12 months - 4 years