My two girls have been brought up in a musical environment - particularly as their dad is a musician and comes from a music-loving family. He plays the violin, fiddle and keyboards and always has to have music playing at home and wherever else possible. He has an impressive vinyl record collection and trawls the charity shops and music shops to find some gem or that elusive something he has always wanted on vinyl whenever possible - sometimes taking the girls along to help him. They have always had access to his percussion and musical instrument box since they were very little and he really enjoys teaching them about each instrument, from the recorder and the whistle to the bongos and the handbells. Now they are growing older he encourages them to play the instruments that we have such as keyboards, the ukulele and guitar in the hope that they will gain a love of music like he does.
The need to make sounds is present in all children and percussion sets such as Djeco Animambo Set Of 3 Percussion Instruments would be a great gift to develop a child's love of music as well as encouraging them to be as noisy as they like! My girls' favourite musical toys so far have been the colourful Djeco Toy Xylophone and the Djeco Animambo Set Of 3 Instruments which includes a maraca, a tambourine and a castanet, all beautifully painted in a bright vibrant design to appeal to little ones. Now although they still love these instruments, my youngest one's current obsession is singing her favourite songs whilst accompanying herself on the Djeco Toy Guitar - she's not always in tune but loves it anyway! My eldest always loved the little piano she got for Christmas a few years ago, the Djeco Electronic Piano which is a beautiful wooden toy piano and is easy for toddlers to play. She is now looking to learn piano properly and enjoys playing on the keyboards at home, experimenting with sounds and composing her own little songs.
Music boxes are also a lovely way to introduce music to little ears - my two have been fascinated by the ones they got for Christmas last year, winding them up and playing them over and over again whilst watching the little figures dancing to the melodies. They have pride of place in their bedroom and I think my eldest daughter would like one to store her little treasures in away from her sister - the Djeco Musical Boxes - Dream Of Unicorns would be just the thing, also fulfilling the unicorn obsession!
For further ideas and inspiration this Christmas, take a look at our full Musical Toys range here - musical instruments and music boxes are beautiful, traditional toys that will always be treasured by little ones.