Not all mandolin "damage" is equal :)

[Doug Brock]

My first grandchild, Faye, is 16 months old and, like most little ones, LOVES music. Her daddy plays ukulele and I play guitar, mandolin, keyboards, etc. Faye has been bobbing her head and now dancing to the music since she was four or five months old, and now she is wanting to help strum the instruments. She's recently discovered that I, unlike her daddy, play with a pick and of course she wants to use the pick, too.

My current mando is a couple-of-year-old Eastman MD505 that hasn't had any dings (and no "belt rash," thanks to the toneguard) (I tend to be a bit overprotective of my wooden instruments - I have a D18GE that's about 15 years old and doesn't have a ding yet), but Friday as Faye was playing my mando, I heard a few little taps of the pick against the top of the mandolin from time to time. Instead of cringing, I smiled thinking that this possible playing wear wouldn't bother me one bit, that it would be fun to show her in years to come, proof of her early interest.

I told my wife afterwards that this was one mando that wouldn't get sold or traded in. It might get a little "damage" in the next few years as Faye learns to "play" with a little more control, but I wasn't going to complain. (I actually don't know if she made any visible marks, but I plan to keep letting her play with me, so some marks would seem to be inevitable.)

I'm a happy grandpa, making music with my grandbaby!

[Br1ck]

I supervise, but since my oldest grandchild was two. I let him hold and play any instrument I own. I have to plug in the electrics, have the mics live, and have picks at the ready.

But his favorite is a cigar box guitar and glass slide. That one I never worry about.

[Jim DeSalvio]

That will be true "mojo"!! A applaud you for doing this. I also keep my instruments nice, but don't worry much about naturally acquired mojo. Now dings from careless handling on my part, are another thing.

Jim D

[Paul Busman]

One way to let her play and still not damage your instrument is to get some felt picks.They won't sound terrific but at 16 months she won't know the difference,or at least I don't think she will.
You could get her her own soprano ukulele. They come in all sorts of cute colors that ought to have kid appeal. When I was in an Irish band, my grandson who was about 4 at the time wanted nothing more than to play in Papi's band.I got him an inexpensive yellow uke which he loved. At one annual St.Patrick's Day family friendly gig I detuned the strings, sat Neill on a chair onstage with us and let him whang away on his uke as the band played. The crowd LOVED it!

[pops1]

I had ukulele's for my kids when they were small, I told them they were real guitars like mine and not toys like the plastic instruments they also had. I open tuned them so all they had to due was strum and it would sound good. They took care of them and when they got older a friend got them for his children.

[Doug Brock]

Her parents and I actually talked about when she would be able to take reasonable care of a ukulele - I have a nice one, but would probably buy her one of those "cute" plastic ukes at first. I'm guessing it will be a couple more years before she really learns to not drop things on the floor, lol. For now Grandpa will be holding the wooden instruments.

I do have a tiny Casio keyboard from the 80's that she likes to carry around and play. That little keyboard has survived three sons and many nephews and nieces!

Regarding picks, I tried to give her another pick (a pretty red but cheap guitar pick) so I could have my Primetone back, but she wanted to hang onto the Primetone for a while. I do have extra Primetones, but I still don't want to lose them.

[bradlaird]

If she wants to pick get her a dadgummed Rogue and a handful of picks and let her go.

If it ends up as kindling you have lost nothing. And she might be the next Sierra.

[pops1]

Actually I started at 2 with a wooden uke. The plastic one's are junk, and the cheap wooden one's will most likely need some work. I made sure they had geared tuners so I could keep it tuned to a chord. They are so small it's easy to carry for a young one and light enough if it gets dropped from that short distance it really doesn't get hurt.

[Doug Brock]

There are actually some decent plastic ukuleles these days. Not the ones from toy stores, though - those do seem to be junk, lol. The plastic ones I've tried from Kala would seem like a good sturdy start for a toddler. Elderly has a bunch of these in the $40 to $50 range, large range of colors and designs. Elderly notes, "Great for kids, too."

https://www.elderly.com/acoustics/uk...g-kaswb-pk.htm

[pops1]

I guess I am out of touch, it was 35 years ago when I got mine for my 2 & 4 year olds.

[Br1ck]

My daughter bought her two year old a $50 Uke. It's been banged, dragged across cement and otherwise abused, but it has held together and is now on it's second toddler.