Ukulele for Baby

My son is almost a year and he's obsessed with my uke. He even sings when I play. I want to find something for him to play with that's a little studier, any ideas? I was thinking of getting him one of those $30 Mahalo ukes, but I don't know if he's too young? The youngest I've heard of people getting their kids a uke is 2 or so. I don't expect him to play it, but I would love to let him have one to make noise on. Thoughts?

I think it's a great idea! He can hold it, use it like a drum, and will eventually grow into play a "C" chord.

I think it's a good idea, as long as you supervise his time with it. That way, he'll learn that it's not a "toy". Would hate to see him get older thinking ukes are just something to bang on and abuse. How about a Makala Dolphin? Then, as he gets older, he can start learning to play it and have a fun uke to progress with.

What about the Schoenhut? They are actually toys. They're licensed copies (toy versions) of the Flea and Fluke, as I understand it, and the one with the parrot (which is adorable) is on Amazon for about $30. They're probably pretty sturdy, but Freeda has had a couple, I believe, and can probably tell you about their quality. They say for ages 6 and up, but you're not going to find a uke for ages 1 and up, so I assume you plan to supervise your little prodigy! (We'll call that "jamming with," not "supervising.") Here is their website:
http://schoenhut.com/product_information.asp?html_model_number=5400PT

Have fun! Let us know what you decide. Your son sounds like an extremely intelligent and discerning young gent.

My oldest got a kiddie guitar when he was three and my youngest got a blue Mahalo soprano when he was two or three. We all enjoyed the ukulele a lot more than the kiddie guitar. The saddle was really wonky, so I took a chopstick and whittled it down to lower things a bit. I also took a butter knife and sawed a little on the nut and it is better in tune, but it needs more work and is beyond my ability. I guess the ukulele police may come arrest me after admitting to my luthier blasphemy.

Thank you, I will check those out! Mostly likely I will hold it and let him "strum" the chords as he loves the sound. I don't like letting him mess around on mine too much but he seems SO interested in it I hate to keep him from exploring music Thankfully we're not in the banging phase yet and he's pretty good at "gentle" touches.

I was in the same situation as you a couple years ago, and I'm pretty much there again now. My daughter loved when I played uke but I could see she wasn't ready for a uke before her 2nd birthday. We got her a cheap pink Mahalo off of eBay then. But still she didn't try to strum so much as pull and pick it up by the strings for another almost 9 months.

My son, on the other hand, is very sensitive and deliberate where music is concerned. It's so fascinating and exciting! Before he'd turned one, he'd get a hold of my daughter's uke and very carefully place it on the floor next to him and lightly strum. I would have happily bought him a uke for his first birthday (he's 18mos now), but we're moving overseas in a few months and we'll just get him his uke once we're there. At $30 or so, Mahalos are cheap enough that it's not so bad if your little one breaks it some how. But if those Schoenhut ukes are built like Fleas or Flukes then they'd be a very good option, especially at that price!