The Best Drum Set for Kids

Drumming is one of the oldest instruments known to humankind. We have excavated drums thousands of years old from archaeological sites, representing the instrument in some form in virtually every civilization throughout history. Then, it’s no surprise that people of all ages have an innate urge to make music with their hands. Even babies – give them a wooden spoon and a pot and watch them go!

There are many ways in which children can benefit from exploring the world of drumming. Not only can they develop musical ability, but there are also gross and fine motor development benefits. If you’ve got a toddler or young child at home who shows a strong interest in drumming and you’re interested in upgrading them from the cooking pot kit, you’ve come to the right place.

How Do Acoustic Drums and Electric Drums Work?

Acoustic drums are one of the oldest musical instruments in the world. Hit it with your hand, and it makes a noise. But what exactly is happening? When you hit the drum with a drumstick or your hand, the drum head vibrates, creating the sound. You can change the sound slightly by changing the frequency at which the drum head vibrates, the tension of the drum head, the material it is made of, or what it is struck with. Straightforward enough!

Electronic drums, on the other hand, are a different story. An electronic drum kit has two main parts: ‘triggers’ and the ‘brain’. The trigger pads are the bit of the drum kit that you play. Most electronic drum kits will have trigger pads roughly the same configuration as an acoustic drum kit, with bass, snare, tom drums, and a cymbal or two. The pads are covered with rubber or mesh. When they are hit with a drumstick, they transmit a signal to the ‘brain’.

The brain is the module that is responsible for sound production. Think of it as a synthesizer were all drum sounds come from when the transducer modules are struck. Most electronic drum sets will come with a few different preset kits – whether you’re playing along with a jazz song or a rock track, you can choose the kit sounds that would suit the song best.

How Can a Drum Set Contribute to a Child’s Development?

There is a surprisingly wide range of benefits drumming can contribute to child development! First, the obvious: musical skills and a sense of rhythm. They learn to multi-task and coordinate their hands with their feet, fine-tuning their fine and gross motor skills.

Doing one thing with your feet and another with your hands is something even adults can struggle with! They also learn to focus when learning a new skill and work together with others if they play in a band. 

Playing the drums is beneficial for the brain, as well. Making music is typically associated with the right side of the brain, the creative side. But drumming also stimulates the left side of the brain, which is associated with math, logic, and learning sequences.

Learning How to Play

Are lessons needed? The answer is – it depends. The biggest factor is age. Although there are exceptions, music teachers often suggest that students wait until age 6 or 7. Before then, children lack the focus needed during the lessons and the internal drive to practice regularly. If you’re unsure about paying for classes, you can always try YouTube and see how it goes. 

There are some beneficial channels out there offering lessons showing basic techniques. However, with online classes, there’s no opportunity to have feedback from another person who knows what they’re doing, which is invaluable when learning. 

If you have a child over the age of 7 who is serious about learning how to play the drums, lessons can be important – and your ears might appreciate listening to an actual song instead of random crashing, too!

Parents might want to consider the song’s content when finding songs for kids to learn to play along with. A few pieces that are great for beginners to learn and don’t have explicit lyrics are Billie Jean by Michael Jackson, Happy by Pharrell Williams, Shake It Off by Taylor Swift, and Eye of the Tiger by Survivor, and Radioactive by Imagine Dragons.

What Makes a Drum Set Suitable for a Beginner?

There are a few things to look for differentiate a beginner’s drum set from an intermediate or professional kit. First, you’ll probably notice that the price is much lower. That’s because of a difference in the quality of the materials used. 

Beginner sets will use a cheaper wood, such as poplar or basswood instead of maple or birch, and less expensive hardware. That’s ok because your child isn’t using the drums with the same frequency or intensity as Meg White or John Bonham.

You’ll also notice a difference in size – not just the size of the drums – the ones on our list are all junior-sized, suitable for kids, and the number of drums included in the set. Many beginner sets include only three drums, but intermediate kits typically have at least five drums. 

Beginner sets are lower priced so that more people can be introduced to the instrument, but if your child is taken with the drums and wants to pursue it, there may be an intermediate set that can withstand harder playing in your future. 

When it comes to the size of the drums, look to see if the kit is adjustable. Kids grow faster than you think they will, so if you can adjust the height of the seat, the cymbals, and the drums, you can get more years out of a junior-sized set.

What Are the Different Drums Included in the Set?

Like our list, beginner drum sets for children typically come in 3- or 5-piece kits. Typically, drums included are a bass, snare, and tom (sometimes just a floor tom, others include mounted toms as well), plus cymbals – either a hi-hat cymbal or a crash cymbal, or both.

The snare drum is the most frequently played drum, and in a kit, it is usually positioned between the drummer’s legs so you can play it with both hands. Snare wires on the underside of the drum make a distinctive snare sound. The bass drum is the big one that sits upright on the floor, and it is played with a foot pedal. 

It’s also called the kick drum and makes a low, thumping beat. The floor tom is the second-biggest drum supported off the floor by four legs. It has a deep sound like a bass drum. The high toms on beginner drum kits are often mounted on the bass drum and add some diversity of tone to your drum kit.

Now for the cymbals! A beginner drum kit can come with one or both of these types. The first is the hi-hat, which comprises two cymbals that crash together when operated with a foot pedal. You’ll often use them to keep up a beat and keep a band playing together at the right tempo. 

The crash cymbal is probably the most fun and iconic part of the drum kit and does what the name says – provides a big crash at emphatic moments! Parents might cover their ears, but kids will love it. 

What is the Best Place to Set Up Your Drums?

The best place to set up your drum kit will be different for everyone. Drum kits can take up a lot of room, particularly acoustic drums. Some electronic drum kits can fold up and put away when not in use, so if you don’t have the floor space to set a drum kit up, electronic may be the best option. 

If you’re lucky enough to have a rec room or a family room, that can be an ideal space to keep the drums set up for easy access, as long as there are no younger siblings in the house who might find it irresistible to try out their brother or sister’s drums! If your child has enough space in their bedroom, that could be a great spot to keep the drums out of sight of anyone who might be tempted to have a go.  

Electronic or Acoustic Drums

Which one should you buy? This will depend on a few variables, including the space available for storage and your neighbors’ tolerance for a bit of noise. Whichever way you decide to go, there will be pros and cons. The significant point in favor of electronic drum kits is the noise factor or lack thereof. 

While it’s not silent – there can be some noise from the sticks hitting the mesh pads and a stomping sound from the bass drum. It’s much quieter than acoustic drums, making it a very attractive option for people living in apartments or an area where houses are very close. 

Space is another factor, as electronic drum kits can take up roughly half the floor space of an acoustic kit. You’ve also got a bigger library of sounds to choose from, as most electronic drums allow you to program different sounds, such as bells. 

This might not be a big factor for kids who are just beginning. But for older kids who want to experiment a bit more, being able to play around with different sounds already programmed into your drum kit without having to purchase individual accessories can be a big plus. 

That’s not the only way electronic drum kits can lower costs. Although the initial kits are often comparable in price, with an acoustic kit, you will have to replace items such as drum skins, cymbals, and drum sticks, particularly if you have an older child or teen who plays regularly.

So if they’re louder, bigger, and more expensive to maintain, why do people buy acoustic drum kits? The answer is hard to quantify, but it mostly depends on how the drums feel. 

Drummers often say that it’s hard to get nuance in their playing with electronic drum kits, and electronic drum kits just can’t match the feel and precision of an acoustic kit. It’s also, let’s face it, just more fun, especially for young kids who are as excited by the experience of banging on a drum as they are about the sound they make. 

Electronic kits are great for practice and older beginners, but if you have a child who is serious about getting into drumming, or a young child who is generally just excited about making noise, consider an acoustic kit.

Hardware Included

When a drum set says that it has all hardware included, it comes with everything – racks and stands for the drums, pedals, stools, etc. That’s an important distinction because sometimes drums are sold in “shell packs, ” meaning just the drums and nothing else. 

These are more popular for advanced musicians who might want to switch a single drum in their kit for an upgraded one. This is probably not something you will have to worry about for a very long time if your child sticks with drumming, so for now, just make sure you are buying a kit that comes with everything you need.

Number of Pieces

This will vary by the drum set. Read the description carefully because most of the time, when you see “3-piece drum set” written, it refers to the number of drums and doesn’t include any cymbals that come with the set. 

Occasionally, a set might be described as a “5-piece” but include only three drums and two cymbals. Check the data points on our product reviews, where we clarify how many drums and cymbals are included with each set.

Ease of Assembly

Drum sets are usually relatively simple to set up, often taking less than half an hour. Instructions are included, and if you get stuck, check out YouTube – you can find virtually anything on there, including videos showing how to set up many different drum sets.

Shell Construction and Drum Heads

Beginner acoustic drum sets shell constructions are often made of less expensive hardwoods, such as poplar or basswood. Many of the sets on our list are made of poplar.

Drum heads are traditionally made of leather or hide, these days drumheads are most often made of materials. Mylar is currently one of the most popular.

Drum Thrones and Drumsticks

A “throne” is what we call the padded stool that comes with the drum set. It’s almost always adjustable to suit a range of sizes.

Drumsticks can come in a range of sizes. The ones that come with a junior-sized drum set will be smaller than adult-sized drumsticks. If you want to upgrade to a bigger or stronger set, drumsticks are readily available at most local music shops and are very affordable.

Junior or Full-Sized Drum Kit?

It all depends on age and whether you think their interest in drumming is a passing phase or a prolonged interest. Since junior drum sets are much more inexpensive than full-sized kits, I’d probably go with a junior-sized kit for a child under 12 until you’re sure this will be a long-lasting interest worth investing a little more money in.

Age Suitability

One of the best things about drumming is how accessible it is to people of every age. Even babies love to bang on things and make noise! That said, for an actual drum set, a minimum level of coordination is needed to sit on the drum throne and work the foot pedal while banging away. 

An enthusiastic two-year-old could probably get a lot of enjoyment over an appropriately toddler-sized drum set, but that’s probably the youngest age group I would recommend. Most of the sets on our list are appropriate for kids between 3 and 12.

Material

Drum sets on our list are all made of high-quality wood, typically poplar. More expensive sets are usually made of more expensive wood, such as birch or maple. Traditionally made of leather or rawhide, drum heads are often made of plastics such as Mylar.

Price

Price is affected by the size of the drum set and the materials it is made from. Beginner sets made for children are smaller and use less expensive wood such as poplar or basswood. The set price will increase accordingly when more costly materials, such as birch or maple, are used.

Do Electric Drums Have a Rechargeable Battery?

There’s no straight answer here – it depends on the drum set. One of the electronic drum sets on our list comes with a rechargeable battery, and the other does not. When looking at an electronic drum set, check the product description carefully to determine if batteries will be a regular expense.

Frequently Asked Questions