Toddler/Piano Keyboard advice

[rmrusso]

Hi! I'm a FTM who would like to get her 17 month old son a musical keyboard/piano for the holidays. Any recs. on which ones would be good and durable? Also, any on sale? I'm a little lost and overwhelmed by this holiday season and shopping for him. Thanks so much for your help! Happy Thanksgiving!

[Seitvonzu]

last year my parents got the my daughter (then 2) and her cousin (3 months youger) the schoenhut "fancy grand" piano. they both like them very much, they are very cute, and the bench is pretty stable. if you are looking for something like that-- those are great.

BUT-- if you just want a keyboard? my child is ALWAYS drawn to the parents kitty cat keyboard they sell at target ( i believe teh "regular" price is either 25 or 30 dollars?). i'm sure at some point during this season it will be on sale, and it's really cute (and they sell it in some of the toy catalogs i get for much more -- maybe 40 dollars?).

i'd think that your son would be old enough for it and it would be fun for a while :) happy shopping!

[LaCostaMom]

We really love the FP Grand Piano but apparently they've been discontinued. I see quite a few gently used ones on CL, though.

We received ours when they were still babies but they've been sitting at the piano since they were 5 months old until now (2.5yr). They've learned their do-re-mi's, several songs and beats from this piano.

Other than that, I'm on the hunt as well for a piano for my 7-month old niece. Nothing I've seen quite lives up to what we have so I'm having a hard time finding one.

[LGS]

Bump! Anymore feedback on pianos? I am worried about getting something that turns out to be junky plastic. TIA!

[ahisma]

Are you settled on the piano / keyboard? I really like smaller instruments at that age - shakers, bells, drums, tambourines, rhythm sticks.

We have a piano, I even used to teach (many) years ago. I don't really see it as a first instrument though.

[LGS]

Are you settled on the piano / keyboard? I really like smaller instruments at that age - shakers, bells, drums, tambourines, rhythm sticks.

We have a piano, I even used to teach (many) years ago. I don't really see it as a first instrument though.

Hi, thanks for the reply. Yeah, we have all of those instruments. My boys just really want a piano now because they say some of the bands we listen to have keyboards/piano and they can't play 'band' properly without one!

[Naranjadia]

We got a Schoenhut for our kids and it lasted for two years which was longer than I predicted, considering that they both played it as intended and totally abused it, like it were a regular toy.

I think it was a great value, considering how much they enjoyed playing it, how fun it was to watch them, and it's overall quality. Some of our musical friends pooh-poohed it because it wasn't properly tuned, but I just thought of all the great jazz pianists who learned how to play on out of tune pianos in the basements of gin joints.

[LGS]

After a bit of research, I decided to get our budding musician a "real" keyboard instead of a toy piano.

I decided on this one (http://www.walmart.com/ip/Casio-SA75-37-Keys-100-Tones-With-Headset-Microphone/3327577) but got the "in stock" one that includes AV adapter, headphones, etc.