Kids Ukulele Introduction

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A kids ukulele will give any boy or girl hours of enjoyment. Learning to strum a uke, or to pick out a simple tune, gives a child confidence and instills the pride of accomplishment. It can serve as the basis of a lifelong love of music and spur an interest in picking up other instruments later on.

Purchasing a kids’ ukulele will not set you back very much. You can spend as little as $30 and get a quite playable uke that will serve a youngster’s learning needs. However, we recommend that you look at some of  the instruments available in the $50-$75 range to find the really good “starter” ukes. As with any other hobby, you can spend much more than that, of course–but you don’t need for your child’s first ukulele.

As for learning to play, it is easy today to find someone giving ukulele lessons. Most likely, your local music store has a regular schedule of classes for this wildly popular instrument, with some tailored especially for beginners or children. For any beginner, group lessons are definitely recommended — they are fun, and at the same time they cost less than one-on-one instruction.

If you are a parent or grandparent who is considering buying a ukulele for a youngster in your life, we have one note of caution: If you are not careful, you will be hooked, too–and will sooner or later have to get a uke for yourself! Have fun!

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• What the World Needs now is Ukulele (innovationslab.wordpress.com)
• Top 10 Ukulele Lessons & Articles of 2010 at UkuleleTricks – some great Beginners Tips and Songsheets (ukes4fun.org.uk)
• Ukulele Lady (keithbhume.wordpress.com)
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Kids Ukulele – No Such Thing As Too Young

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How young can you start your child playing a uke? There is no easy answer to this question. Much depends on the individual youngster.

A kids’ ukulele can be bought very inexpensively. So if the youngster turns out to show little interest in it, or accidentally breaks it, you will not have lost much. However, we have found that almost every kid–even the youngest–will delight in twanging the ukulele’s strings and entertaining others with their “playing.”

We have seen babies who are too young to hold a uke properly nevertheless spend many happy play periods banging one that has been placed in their laps. Many of today’s most accomplished professional ukulele players will tell you that they can’t remember a time in their lives when they didn’t have one of these wonderful little instruments in their home.

Kids ukulele classes are available in many communities that are geared to the special learning style of various ages. One uke teacher we know starts out the very youngest kids with games and activities to surround them with a fun “Hawaiian” atmosphere–making leis, for instance, or learning a few of the native words–in addition to teaching them the rudiments of the instrument.

As with most things, children are some of the fastest learners on the uke. For one thing, they are not as self-critical as adults, and are therefore freer to explore the instrument without worrying overmuch if they are doing it “right.”

Of course, if you are eager for your child to stick with the ukulele, there is no better way than for you (parent, grandparent, older sibling, etc.) to learn to play one, too. It is an excellent musical instrument to foster family fun and togetherness at minimal expense.

Get a kids’ ukulele today and put it in the hands of your favorite young person. He or she–and you–will be glad you did.

Related articles

• Lessons from a Ukulele (mannerofspeaking.org)
• Uke Can Do It: Grade 3 students rock the ukulele (thestar.com)