Billy Beats: A Toddler’s First Musical Instrument
Disclosure: I received a sample of Mega Bloks First Builders Billy BeatsTM Dancing Piano to facilitate this review. Any opinions are my own.
Most babies, toddlers and preschool aged children love music. In my opinion there’s nothing cuter than a 10-month-old child who is learning to stand up and you see them holding on to the ottoman or the coffee table bouncing and side-stepping to music. With Billy Beats, Mega Bloks has combined several features that young children love most into the same toy allowing them to listen to music, dance, play music, and use their hand-eye coordination to place blocks in and out of a container, while also providing a place for kids to stack blocks.
Billy Beats from Mega Bloks, your toddler’s first musical instrument, has the capabilities to entertain a young child with music, but as they advance into the preschool years, it also has features that will allow them to experiment with learning and playing familiar songs on their own.
Billy Beats is recommended for kids ages 1-5. This silly, dancing piano has 3 modes of play that include “Dance With Billy,” “Teach Billy,” and “Free Play.”
In Dance With Billy, kids can touch anyone of the piano keys and it will play one of 8 different songs. There are picture icons on each key which will correspond to the song that it plays. The keys will light up and Billy will dance along from side to side. Songs included are Twinkle Star, Wheels on the Bus, London Bridge, and Rain Rain Go Away.
In Teach Billy mode, Billy’s keys will light up in succession to play a specific song. Kids can tap the corresponding key and learn to play a specific song. If they choose the incorrect key, Billy makes a cute giggly laugh.
In Free Play mode kids can tap the keys and make up their own songs, try to remember the sequence of songs they’ve learned form “Teach me” mode, or they can use the musical notes that are featured on the longer MegaBloks to try and learn to recognize and read notes to play a song.Gavin and I enjoyed using this mode where he wouldn’t look when I tapped a key and he’d try to guess what the song was.
There are also 3 different sound choices for playing that include regular piano notes, silly animal noises, and an up-beat techno type sound called “Funky DJ.”
One of the best features of this toy is that it arrives with 3 “C” batteries. Though there is a motor type noise when Billy moves, the motor in this toy is much quieter than most other musical/mechanical toys we’ve reviewed, and it doesn’t detract from the music sounds and fun that the toy offers. The audio is clear and the tempo of the music is upbeat and fun without being annoying. Though the songs are relatively short, I think that’s important for young children to help them build success, especially if they are learning to play them on their own. We’ve all owned toys with limited talking repertoires that our kids love and overtime seem to drive us crazy when we are in the same room. Though Gavin generally prefers the same songs over and over again, the good news is with this toy there are at least 8 different options so that, coupled with the ability to change the type of music, will provide both parents and kids a little bit of novelty!
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