Ukuleles for Kids

Ukuleles are the perfect instrument for children. They are a great size for small hands, lots of fun, the kids can sing along to whatever songs they play and generally feel like little rock stars! The ukulele is now being taught in schools across UK and is finally taking over from the boring, squeaky old recorder! If we were taught ukulele at school, we might have listened a bit more...Anyway, lots of customers have asked us for advice on buying ukuleles for their children. We believe in starting out right, and making sure the ukulele you buy is one that will give most satisfaction.

About Ukuleles for Kids

We understand that you might not want to spend much at first, especially for a younger child, when you're not sure if he or she will even take to playing the ukulele. In which case we suggest the Mahalo or Makala range of ukuleles. We don't sell these ourselves, but they can be found in many local music shops, and online at Amazon, for example. Like all cheaper ukes, they can be a bit "hit and miss", but they can work out OK for younger kids.

A couple of tips before you buy:

- Try to find a ukulele with good tuners, such as the "geared tuners". These are easy to identify as they stick out of the side of the "head" of the ukulele, like 4 little ears, 2 on each side. Cheaper ukuleles invariably use cheaper (poorer quality) tuning pegs. Out of all the cheap tuning pegs, simple geared tuners are the best.

- All cheaper ukuleles come with poor strings. A quick and easy way of improving the sound and playability of any ukulele is to fit it with some Aquila Nylgut strings.

Here are some examples of Mahalo ukuleles available from Amazon. These are great for kids, especially the models with geared tuning pegs.