Around our house, the record player gets as much action as our computer full of mp3s. But for many households, the mere thought of a record collection is a thing of the past. The history and evolution of things is an important thing to teach our little ones and any youngster who visits can't help but be intrigued by the mystery that a vinyl record holds. Is your family old school? New School? Tell us after the jump!
Personally, we grew up with a Strawberry Shortcake record player (which was totally scratch and sniff!) and went to town listening to records supplied by our parents. Dad had his record player and stereo, but that was off limits to us!
There are lots of great vintage records to be had for children. They are often a dime a dozen at garage sales, thrift stores and auctions. Make sure to check the condition of the vinyl before purchasing. Usually records for kids fall into two different categories: Hardly Played and Holy Cow Did It Get Caught In A Tornado? You will of course be looking for those showing little wear and tear (no matter what the jacket cover looks like).
Do you have a record player in your home? Is it for grownups only or do you let your little ones give it a try?
(Images: Flickr Members livingglocurto & neilfein licensed for use under Creative Commons)
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My husband bought me a new turntable for Christmas (the old Fischer Price record player just didn't sound so good anymore!). We play records for ourselves and the kids pretty often--vinyl sounds good.
We have a record player too, but my son is still too young to let him use it. Getting vintage kids vinyl is a great idea though!
I don't have one, but if I did, it would be a toy, and we'd put cars on it. And it would play records.
We love our record player and vinyl collection! Our daughter loves to watch the record play. We have lots of jazz, rock and kids records. We even have some of my husband's records from when he was a child!
I have a record player and a few dozen old records. I also have a child on the way. I fully intended to allow my child to use the record player, at the very least to learn about how I used to listen to music at their age. However, your post has set off a light in my head, I just might have to find one of the old kids' record players like I had when I was growing up!!
I still have the old Fisher Price from when I was a kid, my mom saved it for me.
Our record player is just for my daughter, although I enjoy singing along. Helen uses my childhood smurf turntable and most of the records are from a local thrift shop or ebay.
We are expecting parents. We look for music on vinyl first, if it can't be bought then we buy digital. Vinyl is not that much more than itunes and you generally get a digital download for your ipod.
We also have been looking at Half-Price Books for kids vinyl. Picked up peter and the dragon on 7" a few days ago.
My childhood preschool had a rummage sale and I was able to purchase about 75 childrens albums on vinyl for $5! It was amazingly nostalgic. (I regressed and bought a slide, a Fisher Price cash register, and a box of rummy sticks as well!) My two year old and I have spent a lot of time dancing around the living room and listening to the book and records. It must have made quite an impression on her, because she asks to listen to records all the time. She calls the ipod 'records' as well, and people find that a little strange. Our player is a little portable hand me down with jean pockets on the front.
We love records and our 4-year old has been using an old F-P record player since about 20 months! He still loves it, it's a great toy and takes SO much more punishment than a cd player or cds. (and yes, you still can get replacement needles.)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/julielion/260663945/