Ukulele for kids

How should parents choose a ukulele for children, and is there a children’s ukulele? What to look out for when choosing an instrument for the littlest musicians? You can find out all this on this page.

The best ukulele for kids

I remember my first instrument very well. A violin… at age 7…? Of course, my parents picked out the instrument. It was already decided then that I wasn’t going to be a violinist. Why? The violin was boring, old, brown, and the idea of playing old classics didn’t motivate me much at 7. Back then, there was no Sporcl or Vanessa Mae and their modern take on music. Serious music is boring to a child, and the music teacher had absolutely no ambition to teach children in a way that they would enjoy.

First, talk about everything

I think there will only be a handful of kids who come to their parents wanting to play a musical instrument. Most of the time, the parents pick it. If you parents have chosen the ukulele. It’s a good choice. It’s quite easy to play. It’s even an affordable instrument, so you can buy a ukulele or two and play along.

First of all, prepare entertaining arguments for the young musician. YouTube is full of them (like here). And then you have to figure out how to make every ukulele exercise fun. Finally, don’t slack off. If you don’t want to practice – it doesn’t exist :). Play along. Play often. Play fun and sing.

What would be needed to order a baby ukulele?

Above I have shown you the best ukulele for kids. Their equipment does not lack a gig bag (case, bag). Although the ukulele is a small instrument, but children might carry it, so it is not a bad idea to get them a strap for it and of course a tuner, because it is necessary that the instrument is properly tuned. Then you have to tune it yourself :-).

Ukulele for children exists

The ukulele for children (doesn’t) exist. I mean, there is no such thing as a miniature ukulele. The good news is that the soprano ukulele measures 53cm and is quite “reasonably” sized for a child’s hand.

The children’s ukulele exists. You can’t shrink it, but you can paint it nicely. It is not a problem to buy a ukulele in blue, red, pink, flower or giraffe pictures. So no boring exotic wood colours. Children will certainly not appreciate the colourful tones of the wood.

What to look out for

So, of course, it’s the actual processing of the ukulele. It’s no good buying the cheapest one in a Vietnamese shop. Such a ukulele will quite certainly get out of tune – that’s not good, because it has to be tuned all the time and the playing won’t sound good.

Colored ukuleles are also quite cheap and it shows in their design. For example, the flower ukulele in the photo. It’s made of modified plastic to make the instrument sound like a quality ukulele. It’s a good instrument for kids because it’s cheap and won’t just break.

The smiley ukulele pictured above. It has a Sengon wood body. That alone is better than a platypus. It will be a more fragile and vulnerable instrument. But not by that much. You can’t hit the ground with either :-).

However, for children’s beginnings on the ukulele, these are good instruments. Kids wouldn’t appreciate the sound of acacia wood anyway :-), the point is, teach THEM.