Alex sent us an email
Parents of toddlers, what do you use, if anything? Do you have a regular radio, a radio/CD player, MP3 player with speakers or something else in your child's room?
Any suggestions or recommendations?
Thanks!"
Good Questions: Radio/Cd Player for a Toddler?
Good question Alex!
We have to say it's amazing how many resources one can find about the benefits of music for children. Everyone is more than willing to tell you when to play it, how to teach it, and even which CD's to play. But noone really says what they're playing their music on. You're right in that there are plenty of cartoon covered devices but nothing simple.
Here's a couple we didn't hate:
GPX Portable CD Player from Montgomery Ward Kids pictured above.
Sing-A-Long CD Player by Goldmen Electronic. This one has a simple blue and white design and definitely looks toddler friendly.
Any other thoughts for Alex? Do you have a CD Player, MP3 Player in your child's room? What kind?
Comments (9)
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Use a regular player, not one of those "baby" ones you attach to the crib. First of all you really don't want your baby messing with the controls, and they learn quickly. Second, the "baby" ones have crappy sound quality. We had the baby in our room so we just used our TEAC system though a boom box like the one pictured on this post is fine. The only thing I would suggest is a remote control. Ideal for stopping and starting music when you have your hands full with baby while nursing, or rocking or just sitting in the dark, trying ot get him back to sleep.
Oops, just reread post and realized that you want your 3 year old to play CDs on his own. Then the one pictured is perfect. However, if my 3 year old had access to this he would certainly knock it over many times and smash and/or scratch the CDs. I let him bring me the CDs he wants, and then let him press the open/close button on our system and put them in. But this is all under my supervision. I have heard that Fisher Price makes a good one though it is super kiddie looking.
Good Question! I like the Max Joy MP3 Player - http://tinyurl.com/yt5yt7
They say it is for kids 6 and up, but the rugged buttons look like they could withstand a toddler's force when pressing on them. Playskool's MP3 player is supposed to be pretty good, although I haven't seen one in action: http://tinyurl.com/2xq8x4
Thanks, dnd. I don't want to him play his own CDs, per se, because I know how that could potentially end up :\, but I do want something simple that if anything, he can just press a button and it turn on -- while I'm in the room.
One idea I was tossing around was hooking up one of our old iPods to some small speakers.
We have a regular-non-kid CD player in our playroom that I believe I got at Target for about $30. In appearance, it's similar to the one above, only gray and blue. I'm sure the quality isn't the best, but it was fine until a few months ago when my then 20 month old daugther decided that she wanted to operate it herself by climbing on her stepstool, pushing buttons continuously, and trying to change CDs every 3 seconds. Needless to say, both the CDs and player suffered from some abuse as we have tried to figure out a system that lets her help and feel like she has some control. Although I hesitate to buy another one, I'd also be interested in other readers' input about those supposedly designed-for kids versions (even though I really don't want one that looks really kiddie).
One good idea to help maintain both your CDs and your player that I just found (but haven't yet tried), is to use these clear protective covers for CDs or DVDs: D Skin Protective Skins (your player can read through them). I saw them in Leaps and Bounds but they are available in bulk on amazon. Anyone have experience with them?
I got a new ipod for Christmas, so I gave our baby my old one. We then got her the iHome portable player from Target http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/sr=1-5/qid=1172167524/ref=sr_1_5/602-1406019-6885429?ie=UTF8&asin=B000H394DE It's small, durable, and simple. Sound quality isn't bad, and the iPod zips inside. You can put the music on shuffle, and the simple controls on the outside allow you to skip through songs and control the volume. I love it, since I can now create playlists for her using my music as well as kiddie stuff.
OK, maybe this is a little techno backward after all this talk of MP3's etc but my son is happy with just the radio. Lexon have a beautiful AM/FM radio designed by Marc Berthier (its called the Lexon Tykho). Its really little, rubber casing, simple controls, shock and splash resistant read: drop and drool resistant?) and it comes in great bright rubber colours. Try Museum of Modern Art Store www.momastore.org or do a search.
We came across the Lexon radio and were so impressed. We, too, are looking for a simple, sturdy music source for our nearly two year old daughter. Problem with just a radio in our area is that there are only three stations that don't specialize in rage of one sort or another, so we began a similar search for a CD player that isn't some kind of a product tie in and doesn't have more bells and whistles than she needs.
We're holding out hope for the Peapod MP3 player, and Alex, perhaps this would suit your needs too. http://www.peapodtoys.com/main.html
Due out in May. If it proves to be in our price range, I think this might be just the thing. Of course it will mean she's the only one in the apartment with an MP3 player, but so far she seems to be a generous sharer.
We bought our boys (5 & 2) the fisher price FP3 player, we have been very pleased with it. You can download music and books especially for kids, the volume stays at a safe setting, it's got a rugged casing and the headphones are smaller. Check it out for yourself.