12 best musical toys for young maestros in 2024

If there’s one toy brand that you won’t mind strewn across the house, it’s Janod and its Sweet Cocoon Collection is our favourite: blending the beauty of natural wood with the most tender colours.

The design of this toy is truly charming, shaped like a caterpillar with musical body parts. With five built-in sound activities, there are two maracas, a xylophone, a bell and rain stick. Due to the wooden sticks – or caterpillar’s antennae – you could call it a six-piece band as our tester enjoyed clattering the wooden body too. But the sounds are delightful, as are the squeals of joy from those that play with it, keeping young minds active and senses engaged as babies explore rhythm and melody.

There aren’t many toy boxes that don’t feature something from electronic learning toy brand, VTech. And while parents mightn’t be crazy about the brightly-coloured plastic aesthetics, the babies and toddlers that play with them certainly are.

The Ocean Buddies Animal Band is an underwater sensation, and has instant baby appeal. There are three well-crafted toys in this bundle making it brilliant value for money. There’s a starfish maraca, turtle tambourine with built-in mirror, and the star of the show… the whale piano. The whale is the only battery-powered part, and parents will be pleased to know it comes fully loaded, and what’s even better is there are volume adjustments. For something so small it has plenty of play options with three modes, which introduce animals, colours and piano notes. Providing a plethora of musical content with seven sing-along songs and 12 melodies, our little tester loved grabbing the easy-to-grasp handle, fascinated by the light-up keys and joyful noises.

You can always rely on SmartMax, which has been creating educational toys for more than 30 years, to come up trumps on some fun independent learning. But this introductory set goes beyond just making jingles, suggested for ages one to three years, get ready to shake, rattle and build with My First Sounds & Senses.

The eight piece set features four coloured magnetic post and four framed spheres, which are just the right size for little hands to grab. The textures range from nobbly to ridged and our inquisitive testers loved exploring these with their fingers and as he grew connecting the two pieces. Our youngest tester loved shaking the balls and hearing what sounds they made as he squealed in delight, while the toddlers were captivated by the magic of magnets.

Hape’s Baby Einstein range deserves a standing ovation. Designing toys using “The Einstein Way” a curiosity-driven learning philosophy, backed by science and built from the best childhood development research, their toys are truly captivating. Our baby tester has unknowingly been a follower of the collection since the early days, with the brand’s popular take along tunes toy (£9.47, Amazon.co.uk), and it’s safe to say the magic touch piano hits the high notes too.

The clever magic touch technology means there’s no need to press the keys, as even the delicate touch of little fingers will produce sweet, dulcet tones. And we mean it, even as tired and tested parents, the sounds that this piano produces are just lovely. And it doesn’t just sound good, it’s easy on the eyes too, with a sturdy wooden outer construction.

There are two modes of play, as you can either make your own music or play along to the classic melodies by flicking the right-hand switch, plus you can also adjust the sound level with two built-in volumes. There’s longevity with this toy too, as it’s a way to practice colour coordination, as you can match the colour-coded notes on the included music sheets to the piano keys. This piano is sure to instil an early love of music, and we’ll happily play audience.

Who says music is just for dry land? With this Bath Beats Musical Bath Toy Gift Set young musicians can take centre stage in the tub! Firstly, we love the gift presentation of this set, which we knew would be an instant hit with our young testers, given the already popular activity of bath time.

When testing these toys it was refreshing to see bath time encourage new noises – other than the usual dramatic splashing and squeals –   with help of new toy instruments specially designed for time in the water. The set comprises of four brightly coloured instruments; two starfish shakers, one ‘Dingray’ xylophone and beater, and an ‘Octodrum’ rhythm toy. The Octodrum is three toys in one as it’s also a floating octopus and handheld maze, as well as a drum, which can be stuck to the side of the bath with the suction pad. We were impressed with the quality of these bath toys which are all made of durable and rust-resistant materials, and it was a pleasure to watch our young testers engage with these creating a somewhat blaring bath-time band.

PlanToys is a brand that cares about the planet, and its mission since 1981 is to create a better world through sustainable play. PlanToys were the first toy manufacturer to create toys by upcycling rubberwood from rubber trees that no longer produce latex and would otherwise be burned by using them to make toys for children. We’re here for the ethos, but were also delighted to see our young tester play so sweetly with the oval-designed xylophone, and we saw his hand-eye coordination develop the more he played with it.

The five gorgeous creamy colour panels look stunning, and the sturdy construction means it can handle some rough and tumble with mini band members. When our young tester forced his weight down on it with his hands and elbows, the elasticated string-built design kept play safe, making it a great toy for those still finding their feet. It would be good for the mallet to attach to the frame for storage purposes, and the smallest panel doesn’t create much of a sound, however we love the look of this toy particularly with the adorable personalisation from The Baby Gifting Company.

There are no bum notes with French toymaker Djeco celebrating 70 years in the toy business this year. What first appealed to us with its Animambo Synthesizer is the brilliant blend of traditional instrument toy, meets modern-day appeal. With a retro-red chunky base, the wooden toy has been beautifully illustrated, providing a timeless design. We love that this is four instrument sounds in one: piano, organ, the more exotic vibraphone, and our firm favourite… saxophone. This toy has been meticulously crafted to be both educational and fun in line with the rest of the Animambo musical collection, and not only does it kickstart an early appreciation for music, playing with this will help to develop fine motor skills, rhythm and hand-eye coordination, while enjoying the harmonious hums it produces. Parents will also applaud the thoughtful 15-level volume control!

Our little tester has grown up with the Lovevery’s Play Gym, so expectations were high for the newly launched Music Set, which builds on its award-winning approach seen in The Play Kits, but now hitting new notes with specifically adapted music learning for little ones. Curated for toddlers aged 18 months to four years old, and there’s plenty to unpack with this set.

So what’s inside the box? For £135 you get, five bells, a concertina, two shakers, a wooden jingle bracelet, an animal metronome and a pan flute, which is more than enough to set up a band. While the thought of toddler ensemble may bring you out in hives, ears will be pleasantly surprised as these real instruments have been crafted using the pentatonic scale, with five notes that always sound good together.

You will also get a well-executed play guide which is stage-based to provide plenty of inspiration to help parents with at-home musical play. The quality of each of the six instruments is undeniable, built to last using FSC-certified wood and paper, soy-based ink, child-safe plastics, stell and stainless steel, they’re a joy to hold and engage with – our favourite being the creative colour tab pan flute. While the cost is a little eye-watering, the years of play you’ll get from The Music Set means it should be seen as an investment, and if this doesn’t inspire a mini music maestro, then nothing will.

The Infantino 7 In 1 kick n keys gym goes the distance from day one. Featuring a soft colourful playmat, a musical masterpiece piano, a tummy-time bolster, a seat positioner, and four hanging toys, there’s something to see baby through from those first playtime periods on their back, to essential tummy time and interactive sitting sessions, thanks to the comfy c-shape seat positioner. In terms of making music, our little tester enjoyed months’ worth of play, first exploring the hanging toys as he discovered the noises that came from rattling the rings and swinging the woodland creature. But our favourite has to be the colourful take-along musical piano, which offers seven melodies, 21 comical sounds, and a fun composer mode.

The gym creates a safe space for baby to play, encouraging sensory exploration, introducing musical sounds, developing hand-eye coordination, and cognitive thinking… and, equally importantly, gives parents arms a rest during those first few months.

It may be a while before baby becomes Jimi Hendrix, but this gorgeous Wooden Guitar from Speedy Monkey is bound to encourage the development of their inner musician. Little fingers can safely strum away thanks to the sturdy six nylon strings, while the body of the guitar has been coated to prevent any finger injuries.

Recommended for three years plus, our toddlers loved the sound of the strings, while parents swooned over the divine aesthetics of this miniature guitar from the gold fretboard, to the navy blue body and sweet illustration surrounding the sound hole. Crafted from FSC certified forests, the quality is irrefutable too, meaning it’s up to the challenge of some rough play, plus its presented in a stunning box, making it a fabulous gift idea for Christmas or a birthday.

The My First Animated Music Box from Belgian brand Lilliputiens, is simply adorable. A twist on the classic music box, it’s made from a combination of plywood, beechwood and plastic making it super robust. It’s almost so sweet on the eyes that you won’t want your baby to get their mitts on it, but actually watching them fascinated by the animated scene, is a joy to see.

You have to twist the blue button to generate the sound and for the animated scene to scroll across, which doesn’t allow for independent play. However there are a selection of faux buttons for little hands to push and twist, and toddlers will love carrying it around with the handle, but we’d quite happily have this stay on the shelf forever.

We love the clever construction of this musical toy, which makes the images look as if they are moving (dancing and playing their instruments) but no batteries or screen time required!

VTech know a thing or two about educational play, being in the business for almost fifty years and the Explore & Discover Roller is a great example of encouraging young ones to play – while learning new skills along the way.

Roll the toy along the floor and you’ll be greeted with a variety of sounds. We loved watching our baby tester interactive with this, crawling after to follow the fun noises which are triggered by movement. And babies won’t bore of this toy as there’s so much to explore from the twisting cogs and sliding ladybug, to electronic drum and light-up piano. Introducing animals, colours, numbers, piano notes and drum beats, you’ll also discover 18 melodies and seven sing-along songs. It may not be portable for on the move play but we found it covered plenty of square footage as our little one loved rolling it around multiple rooms!