Forrest's Fine Gallery of Musical Toys

Nothing captures the magical weirdness of how we think about music quite like musical toys.

Mar 27, 2025

This post is an imaginary toy store meets cabinet of musical curiosities meets lit review. I’ll be collecting, tinkering, and distilling principles from these toys—and I’d love your thoughts. Do you know a toy that belongs here? Do you want to play with any of these toys? Is there one that sparks delight, horror, or an insight? Leave a comment!

Rainbow Ball Run

by KiwiCo

Placing a ball at the top transforms you into a miniature god, setting the universe in motion. With each twist, the rhythm shifts as the ball navigates subtle wrinkles in the machine. The world is divided into segments, each announcing itself with a plunk plunk. But do the plunk sounds change?

My imagination wants to hear an ascending, marimba-like melody as the wooden ball drops to each new level. But wait, what should I expect as it moves through two different shades of green, then three shades of blue, then grey, then lavender? And why ten levels?

The run is made of cardboard and plastic. But the ball itself is beautiful, solid, heavy wood. Holding this ball, wielding it, and letting it loose on the world… that’s where the action is.

Woofer (2011)

by B. Toys

Pure genius. In a single gesture of imagination, before even hearing how it sounds, or knowing how it works, I have become this instrument, and together we have become music. I’m forever a little changed.

And yup, switching to “howl” mode and hitting the whammy bone brings me right where I wanna be.

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But hitting… really anything else… takes me into muddied waters. Different strings play the same sound, then the same string plays different sounds, the lowest sounding note comes out of the highest, smallest button. It’s at best a kind of puzzle, but more likely, we’re headed off leash into sensory overload.

Luckily, bopping Woofer on the nose stops whatever other nonsense is going on—a satisfying lesson in cause and effect—and I can get back to howling on that whammy bone.

Fruit & Veggie Instruments Set

by Gigglescape

Saxoflute

by Quercetti

Dynamic Pixel Piano

by Hape

The Cartesian dream. Introduces baby to a grid-based, clearly intelligible world, including rainbow mechanical piano rolls, level meters, and even pixelated animals. Music is all about sensory stimulation, and each brightly colored flashing light gives baby a dopamine hit that helps lay the groundwork for a lifelong love of screen time.

Then again, the wood veneer case subtly evokes the curvature of a grand piano. Hand-drawn animals play amidst flowers, budding leaflets, and butterflies. Maybe this is the real world. Maybe this is what captures baby’s imagination—what feels natural against the glow of the screen. A first lesson in dissonance.

Piccolo Carousel Bells (2012)

by B. Toys

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Countless hours of skilled engineering, paired with countless more hours of focused and meticulous assembly eventually unlocks an exquisite and arcane musical experience. That is, if you’re one of the very few who manage to make it that far. Why does this feel so familiar…

Learn & Groove Jazzy Saxophone and Strum & Count Wooden Guitar

by Leap Frog

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Soundbops

by Soundbops

Happy Apple (1972)

by Fisher-Price

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Oval Xylophone

by PlanToys

B. Meowsic (2010)

by B. Toys

An instant classic. But, like its cousin Woofer, does this cat really need any features at all beyond its perfectly distorted meow sound? Then again, the paw holding the microphone does cover all five musical styles that cats care about. And I definitely want to press the little nose and cheek buttons—so cute—no matter what they do.

It’s an unusual move to start the keyboard on “A.” Less unusual to end it on “C,” although a traditional 88-key piano also ranges from A to C. May you never look at a piano again without seeing that Cheshire grin.

And, bonus track: if you leave it on, after a couple of minutes, it purrs, says meow, and drifts into catnap mode.