Anyone with an infant knows, if it makes sounds, it's amazing. If you can hit it and it makes sounds, even better! As a joke a few years ago, my husband bought me Mix Stix drumstick spoons - drumsticks on one end and regular wooden cooking spoons on the other. I'm sure he had high hopes that he would receive meals accompanied by entertainment out of it, as I love cooking almost as much as I love music. Unfortunately for him, they sat on the shelf for a few years because, let's face it, they're just too pretty to get all messy with kitchen grime. Doing some spring cleaning (more like fall cleaning, really), I unearthed them a few months ago and tossed them to the kid, thinking he'd have a ball with them. They quickly became O's hands down favourite toy, ever. Nothing is better than a few old gift tins, paired with Mix Stix. Or, his high chair tray, paired with Mix Stix. Or, mum's computer, paired with Mix Stix. Or... well, anything paired with Mix Stix. He's currently watching his reflection in the glass tabletop of our coffee table, and drumming away with his stix. He's also trying to lick his reflection, but that's beside the point.
He has a toy piano with a full single octave C-scale keyboard, as well as a couple pre-programmed songs on it. I go to bed some nights humming Smash Mouth's "All Star", or B-52's "Love Shack", because O's been playing them all day and playing along on the little keys (granted, the keys don't correspond to the notes that are actually playing, but he gets an A for effort). All while dancing along, giggling, and occasionally taking a break to clap his hands.
O gets creative with his toys. His stacking blocks become bongos (I think we started out with 10, and we're down to 6 now because of his exuberant bongo-ing), the wire bead toy gets plucked like a string instrument, TV remotes become drumsticks (as if he didn't have enough of those already!), any surface easily becomes a drum set, and if he gets bored with all that, there's always his voice. He loves singing along with the music on the TV, and the absolute excitement when an ad comes on with real music instead of a boring old jingle is impressive...
It really is all about experimentation and music these days, no matter how discordant.
He has a toy piano with a full single octave C-scale keyboard, as well as a couple pre-programmed songs on it. I go to bed some nights humming Smash Mouth's "All Star", or B-52's "Love Shack", because O's been playing them all day and playing along on the little keys (granted, the keys don't correspond to the notes that are actually playing, but he gets an A for effort). All while dancing along, giggling, and occasionally taking a break to clap his hands.
O gets creative with his toys. His stacking blocks become bongos (I think we started out with 10, and we're down to 6 now because of his exuberant bongo-ing), the wire bead toy gets plucked like a string instrument, TV remotes become drumsticks (as if he didn't have enough of those already!), any surface easily becomes a drum set, and if he gets bored with all that, there's always his voice. He loves singing along with the music on the TV, and the absolute excitement when an ad comes on with real music instead of a boring old jingle is impressive...
It really is all about experimentation and music these days, no matter how discordant.