At a very early age, you might find your child bopping their head to some of the music you’re listening to in the car or house. It’s normal and should be encouraged, but I know personally my concern was that my music isn’t particularly suitable for my young child to be listening to, hence the reason for this guide.
Buying an MP3 player for your toddler might sound a little bit whack, but it’s not, there are purpose made MP3 players for children that have several positives. It’s a great idea, and in this post, you’ll find out why, and after several hours of research, what our best MP3 players for toddlers are.
Quickly navigate to the section that best answers your question by using the links below:
- Our top MP3 player for Toddlers
- Why buy your child an MP3 player?
- What to look for in a child-friendly MP3 player
- Tips for safe listening
- 5 Best MP3 players for toddlers & young children
Our top MP3 player for Toddlers
We’ve done a lot of research and looked into a lot of MP3 players to find the most suitable for your children, and later in the post, we have detailed the rest of our top picks, however, this is the one that we believe is the best value for money buy.
IQ Toys MP3 Player and Karaoke Machine with 2 Microphones Music Player for Kids – Bluetooth/MP3/USB/Micro SD Connection
B07JH34LYY
Product Description
The top choice in our list is this product by IQ Toys, with a child-friendly music player ready to play all your children’s favorite songs. It’s at an excellent price point and can play music from Bluetooth, MP3, USB and a MicroSD.
It also comes fully equipped with a microphone, so your toddler can have a little sing-along and be their own little pop star. At this point, you might be thinking, too loud! But don’t worry, there’s an audio jack so you can connect some headphones perfect for when you need a little peace and quiet.
It makes a point of saying it’s made from very durable material and should last years. It also has a handle, is really light and the buttons are large so your kids should figure it out in no time.
Main Features
- Comes with a microphone for a bit of karaoke
- Durable and high quality materials – but lightweight
- Audio jack for quiet listening
- Second mic for duets!
- Battery powered
Why buy your child an MP3 player?
You might be on the fence as to whether you should be buying your child an MP3, but we can assure you that it’s a positive thing. Kids and music go together, like rama lama lama ka dinga da dinga dong, see what we did there?
There are several benefits to buying your child an MP3 player, and here are just a few of them:
- Lowers stress levels: You might be thinking, my toddler can’t be stressed, there only young! But that isn’t necessarily true, and although kids can’t describe it, they do suffer from stress. You may know from listening to yourself that music can affect your mood and is a good de-stressor, and the same is true when it comes to your toddler.
- Promotes happiness: Listening to music can actually make you release happier hormones. You want a happy toddler right?
- Settling down & improved sleeping: Some soothing music can also help your child relax & even ease them off to sleep, why do you think you sing to them when they’re going to sleep?
- Educational music: You can actually find a lot of educational-based music which can teach them as they listen.
- Promotes interest in singing & instruments: Another thing that regularly listening to music does is promote an interest in either picking up an instrument or singing, a hobby essentially.
What to look for in a child-friendly MP3 player
Convinced that buying one is a good idea? Right, let’s move on then. When you’re in the market to choose an MP3 player for your toddler, there are a couple of things that you should look out for. Here are the features to care about:
- Functionality: It needs to be easy to use and operate, a lot of the MP3 players for toddlers and younger children have larger buttons, making them easier to operate.
- Durable design: Obviously kids can be pretty heavy-handed, and will often throw things about, especially if they get a bit over-excited, it’s just their nature. That in mind, you’ll need to make sure the product is able to withstand a fair amount of wear and tear, the best way to do this is by reading reviews.
- Budget: This kind of goes without saying right? But you obviously want to not spend too much.
- Quality: So, I don’t think you’re toddler will be that bothered about the highest of quality, they don’t know the difference between a Bose and Sennheiser sound for instance, but you want to ensure it’s not really tiny.
Tips for safe listening
Another thing to consider when letting your children use an MP3 player is to keep it safe. What we mean by that essentially is make sure that they’re not listening to it too loud, as this could damage their eardrums and lead to all sorts of problems, damage occurs in children’s hearing at much lower levels than that of an adult so you need to be careful.
You should also limit the time they listen to it, constant listening to music even at what you consider a safe volume level could still damage their ears.
5 Best MP3 players for toddlers & young children
Now the bit you’ve been waiting for, our best MP3 players for toddlers picks. We’ve worked hard in doing a lot of research on the topic, reading through numerous product descriptions, reviews and looking in-depth at some of the brands to create this list for you.
As we’ve mentioned, our top pick is above, but without further ado, here are our other choices, in no particular order:
Kids MP3 Player Karaoke Machine 2 Microphone, Built in Music Storage, Bluetooth/MP3/AUX Connection
Product Description
Are you looking for a toy that can occupy your kids, inspire talent and build their confidence? This is the toy for you, the sing-along music player that’s great for all ages. It’s got a child-friendly design and is equipped with two microphones for a little duet.
There are several great features, such as anti-skip protection, 100 song storage capacity, two power modes through being plugged in or batteries, and more importantly is easy to use.
There’s a host of streaming options from bluetooth, SD card or USB.
Main Features
- Dual microphones
- Multiple ways in which to play music
- Child friendly design – very easy to use
- Can store up to 100 songs
- Can be plugged in or use batteries
AGPTEK MP3 Player for Kids, Portable 8GB Music Player with Built-in Speaker, FM Radio, Voice Recorder, Expandable Up to 128GB, Rose Gold,K1
Product Description
This fantastic MP3 player is designed specifically for kids with its cartoon style, and high definition color display. Along with large storage of 128gb (2,000 songs roughly) it also has some great functions for your young children, like max volume limiting and adjustable brightness to name but a few.
It’s designed to be easy to use, with independent volume buttons, and intuitive button layout. It’s also very small and compact so easy to carry around. There is also a built-in loudspeaker so the audio can be shared out loud.
It can play up to 26 hours of playtime on 3 hours worth of charge.
Main Features
- Designed specifically to be easy to use for children
- Max volume limit control
- Large storage that can have thousands of songs
- Built-in loud speaker for playing the music with their friends or siblings
- Cartoon style
VTech Rock and Bop Music Player, Blue
Product Description
This one warns that it isn’t for children below the age of 3, due to smaller parts.
With that being said, it is a great choice for kids. It is slightly different from the other choices as it’s pre-loaded with 100+ songs and melodies of different styles. As part of the songs, it has musical games to introduce letters, animals and more. There are also three musical styles to choose from including rock, hip-hop and classical, as well as a musical “remix” mode where they can listen to different instruments.
It also has features that you can use to control the volume & have an automatic shut off. To operate it, it requires 2 batteries.
Main Features
- Pre-loaded with 100+ songs
- Musical games included
- Suitable for children aged 3 to 6
- Volume control for parents
- Battery operated
AGPTEK MP3 Player for Kids, Children Music Player with Bluetooth, Built-in Speaker 8GB, 2.4 Inch Color Screen, Support FM Radio, Video, Voice Recorder, Expandable Up to 128GB,Blue
Product Description
Another product by AGPTEK, but slightly different. This K2 music player is designed specifically for kids and is great for learning and development, as it has 10 different soothing sounds which can encourage sleep, improve memory and attention and increase nerve conduction rate.
It has a large capacity which can fit around 1,000 songs (8GB). The sound quality is also great with Hifi lossless sound quality, it’s great visually with 2.4 inch display, and is designed with semi-in-ear headphones for comfort.
It’s not just a music player, it has several more features including lullabies, FM radio, videos, pictures, calendar, stopwatch, alarm clock and recordings to name but a few.
Main Features
- Large 8gb in-built storage which can expand to 128gb
- 10 sounds to encourage sleep and improve memory
- Great sound quality
- Comfortable semi-in-ear headphones
- Several different features including FM radio
Disney Princess Bluetooth Portable MP3 Karaoke Machine Player Light Show Store Hours of Music built in Memory Sing Along using Real Working Microphone Usb Port Expand Content, Disney Multi Princess
Product Description
This again is a slightly different one, as it’s a Disney princess portable Bluetooth MP3. You can store 100s of songs with the built-in memory. If you don’t want to use the Bluetooth functionality it also supports a USB drive. You can also store audiobooks, stories and more!
Attached to this is a working microphone, and multi colored LEDs to give it a real pop. It’s lightweight and portable so your children can carry it anywhere. It’s a great product if your children are fans of Disney.
It also has built-in rechargeable batteries with an included charging cable.
Main Features
- Bluetooth and USB supported
- 100s of songs with the built in storage
- Lightweight and portable
- Built-in microphone
- Rechargable batteries with included cable
