Little Orbit › Music games for kids

Music games for kids: piano, guitar, drums and 8 more instruments

Little Orbit's Music Studio gives children aged 4–10 eleven instruments to play on an Android tablet, 18 songs to learn, a rhythm game and a drum beat maker — with no ads and no in-app purchases.

11 instruments

• 🎹 Piano — colour-coded keys with do re mi labels
• 🌈 Xylophone — rainbow bars
• 🎸 Guitar — 9 chords and six strings to strum with a finger
• 🎻 Violin — hold a key to keep the note bowing
• 🎵 Flute — soft, breathy notes
• 🎺 Trumpet
• 🎷 Saxophone
• 🪕 Banjo
• 🎼 Harp — strings you can sweep across
• 🔔 Bells
• 🥁 Drums — kick, snare, hi-hat, clap, toms, crash and cowbell

Five ways to play

1. Free play. Slide a finger across the keys, switch octaves from elephant-low to bird-high, and play with several fingers at once.
2. Songs. Pick a song and the next key glows. Tap Listen first to hear how it goes.
3. Play in time. Notes fall towards the keys like a rhythm game; tap each one as it reaches the line. The tempo rises as your child levels up.
4. Copy me. The tablet plays a short tune and your child plays it back — it grows by one note each round, a great memory workout.
5. Chord along and beat maker. Strum guitar chord patterns, or build a drum beat on a grid and loop it at your own speed.

Ear training with Sound Detective

Sound Detective is a listening game: was the second note higher or lower, which instrument is playing, how many drum beats, and are two tunes the same or different. These are the first skills music teachers build, turned into a quick eight-question game.

Why music games help young children

Playing music asks children to listen carefully, remember a sequence, keep a steady beat and coordinate their hands — the same skills that support early reading and maths. Short, playful sessions are enough; the aim is to make music something they enjoy reaching for.

Questions parents ask

What age can kids start music games?

From about 4. Little Orbit's Free Play needs no reading at all — every key is a colour and a sound. Songs and Play in Time suit 5–10 year olds, and Sound Detective trains the ear for all ages.

Does the music work without the internet?

Yes. Every instrument is generated by the tablet itself, so the Music Studio works offline once Little Orbit is installed.

Which songs are included?

18 traditional and public-domain tunes: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Mary Had a Little Lamb, Hot Cross Buns, Row Row Row Your Boat, Ode to Joy, London Bridge, Jasmine Flower, Happy Birthday, Jingle Bells, Frère Jacques, Brahms' Lullaby, When the Saints, This Old Man, Lightly Row, Au Clair de la Lune, Itsy Bitsy Spider, Old MacDonald and Yankee Doodle.