Tongue Drum for Kids

Yes, a baby can enjoy a tongue drum when you play it while staying by their side. To participate, your baby only needs to listen; they don’t have to touch the instrument or the mallets. If you’d like to play for your baby, gently play a few notes or a nursery rhyme from a comfortable distance while watching their reactions, then stop as soon as the sound seems to bother them. The tongue drum sounds softer than many children’s drums because its resonating chamber softens the vibrations.

Later, you can let your baby feel the vibrations in their hand and take a turn playing alongside you. A tongue drum for babies must always be played under adult supervision.

The tongue drum can accompany a child through every stage of development: at first, they discover music by listening as an adult plays beside them. Next, they tap the tongues to get to know the instrument with an adult’s guidance. Later, they can begin learning in earnest with nursery rhymes and simple sheet music.

When the product listing specifies it, this tongue drum is a musical instrument rather than a toy and contains small parts that a child under 3 years old could swallow. In that case, it must be played under constant adult supervision. We recommend reading the product listing before giving it to a very young child.

The most important precaution is to stay beside a young child while they play. The mallets are small parts that need close attention. Here’s what to do:

• Never leave a young child alone with the mallets: keep them from putting the mallets in their mouth, and store the mallets out of reach after playtime.
• Place the instrument on the floor or on an adult’s lap; never balance it on furniture within the child’s reach, as a falling tongue drum can cause injury.
• Near a baby, play softly and at a comfortable distance. Striking the instrument right next to their ears isn’t good for them.

The easiest approach is to play with your child without pressuring them to learn. At first, they don’t need to play a melody: you can show them how to make a single note, then adapt how they hold and play the instrument to their age. To start, the two mallets are ideal because they bounce off the tongues with very little pressure. Next, notice what interests your child, whether it’s the sounds, the silences, or the differences between notes. As they get older, they can play a sequence of notes marked by colour. You can then invite them to compose a short sequence of, say, 20 strikes without turning it into a formal lesson.

On a tongue drum tuned to a major scale that isn’t pentatonic, a child can play simple songs with a few markers on the tongues. For example, they can play “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” using numbers. Coloured stickers help children who can’t yet read numbers, while numbered markings let them follow sheet music without knowing how to read standard musical notation.

You’ll find nursery rhyme collections written as numbered sheet music for non-pentatonic C major tongue drums with 8, 11, 13, 14, or 15 tongues. There’s also colour-coded sheet music designed for children, along with colour-coded songbooks.

In a preschool classroom, the tongue drum can be part of the morning routine or help children settle down after recess as they sit quietly and listen. It also lends itself to listening games, such as the “stop-sound” game: the teacher plays while the children move, then they freeze as soon as the sound stops. You can also have children echo a sung phrase, accompany nursery rhymes with gentle strikes, or add sounds of rain or stars to a story. Each tongue produces an in-tune note, so every student can play without worrying about making a mistake in front of their classmates.

For preschool and elementary school students, we recommend a compact model with no more than 11 notes. A lightweight model can also be moved easily from one classroom to another.