Digital Piano or Keyboard: Choosing a Child's First Instrument

A standard piano has 88 keys: 52 white and 36 black. When you shop for a keyboard instrument, you find “digital pianos” with all 88 keys sitting next to “keyboards” with about 61, and the prices and sizes are very different.

Many parents get stuck here when buying a child’s first instrument for Christmas or a birthday. In this post I go through how digital pianos and keyboards differ, and what to check before you buy. Models change quickly, so I won’t name any. I’ll stick to what to look for in a shop or on a spec sheet.

How they differ

Roughly speaking, a digital piano tries to stand in for an acoustic piano, and a keyboard is an instrument for playing around with many sounds.

A digital piano usually has 88 keys, keys weighted to feel closer to a piano, and often a pedal. It is meant to stay in one place at home, so it is wide and heavy.
A keyboard usually has around 61 light keys and many built-in sounds, rhythms and accompaniment features. It is light enough to take out when needed and put away afterwards.

The names vary by maker and shop, though. There are 88-key keyboards and portable digital pianos without a stand. I think it is safer to check the items below one by one on the spec sheet than to go by the name.

Number of keys

For the nursery songs a child plays first, 61 keys are almost never too few. If your child will take lessons and keep playing classical pieces for years, choosing 88 keys from the start saves you from buying again.

I think the choice between 61 and 88 comes down to whether your child will take lessons. If they are starting at home through play, 61 keys are enough. If they will practice lesson homework at home, 88 keys like the teacher’s piano mean they won’t get lost finding positions.

Key weight

There are two things to look at.

First, whether pressing harder makes a louder sound and pressing softer a quieter one. Spec sheets call this “touch response” or “touch sensitive”. Without it, every press gives the same volume and the child cannot practice playing loud and soft. Cheap keyboards close to toys sometimes lack it, so check.

Second, how heavy the keys are. Many digital pianos have heavier keys so they feel closer to a piano. Keyboard keys are light, so even a small child can make a sound easily.

For a 3- or 4-year-old, I think light keys make it easier to enjoy the simple fact that pressing makes a sound. On the other hand, a child used to light keys may be surprised at how heavy a real piano feels. Starting light and thinking about weighted keys once lessons begin is a fine order, in my view.

Pedals

The right pedal on a piano keeps notes ringing after the fingers leave the keys. Most digital pianos come with a pedal. Some keyboards have a jack for a separately sold pedal and some do not.

In the first pieces children learn, the pedal is almost never used, so I don’t think it needs to be a priority for a first instrument. It is reassuring to check that there is a jack, though, so you can add a pedal later.

Sound and headphones

How good it sounds depends on the speakers and how the piano sound is made, which is hard to judge from numbers on a spec sheet. If you can, play it in a shop.

More important is whether it has a headphone jack. If you want your child to practice in the evening or early morning, or you live in an apartment, being able to play with headphones makes a big difference to when practice can happen.

Connecting to an iPad or iPhone

If you want to use it with a piano app, check whether it can connect to an iPad or iPhone over MIDI. MIDI is a signal that says which key was pressed.

If the spec sheet or manual mentions one of these, there is a good chance it will connect:

A USB port. Sometimes labelled “USB TO HOST”.
Bluetooth MIDI. Written as “Bluetooth MIDI” or “Bluetooth LE MIDI”. This is separate from audio Bluetooth, which plays sound like a speaker, so look for the word “MIDI”.
A round 5-pin MIDI port. Common on older models. You can connect through a device called a MIDI interface.

If there is only a headphone jack, it cannot connect over MIDI. I wrote up the steps and the cables and adapters you need in How to Connect a MIDI Keyboard to an iPad or iPhone.

Also check whether the instrument makes sound by itself. Some products called “MIDI keyboards” or “MIDI controllers” are keys only, with no speakers. They are tools for playing sounds on a computer or app and are silent on their own. For a child’s first instrument, I think one with built-in speakers is the safe choice.

Space and height

An 88-key digital piano is over 1.2 metres wide for the keys alone. Measure the space before you buy. I would avoid spots in front of a window or in the direct flow of an air conditioner.

The child’s seated height matters too. If the chair is too low, the wrists drop below the keys and playing gets harder. Use a height-adjustable chair or add a cushion so the elbows are about level with the keys. If the feet don’t reach the floor, a footrest steadies the body.

A keyboard that has to be taken out every time can end up unplayed because getting it out is a bother. If possible, leave it on a stand so your child can touch it whenever the mood strikes.

Used and hand-me-down instruments

A used or hand-me-down instrument is a good choice for a first one. These are worth checking:

Every key makes a sound, and every key springs back after being pressed
The volume changes between hard and soft presses
The pedal and headphone jack work
The power adapter is there
You know the model name

With the model name you can often find the manual on the maker’s website and check the MIDI ports there.

Starting on a screen keyboard first

Starting on the on-screen keyboard of an iPad or iPhone, and buying an instrument once it looks like it will stick, is another order I think works well. Whether a child takes to the keys, and touches them a little each day, is hard to know until they start.

A screen keyboard has no feel when pressed, though, and does not train the fingers to control force. Once interest grows on the screen, let your child try real keys. I hope the points in this post help when that time comes.

Using it with Kinder Piano

Kinder Piano is a piano app for iPhone and iPad for children from about age 3 to the early years of primary school. I made it for my 4-year-old daughter. The practice screen highlights the next note, shows the finger number, and lights up the key to press.

Everything works with the on-screen keyboard alone, so you can try it before buying an instrument. It also supports Bluetooth and USB MIDI keyboards, and MIDI connection is free. When a keyboard is connected, the sound of its keys comes from the keyboard’s own speakers. The app plays piano sound itself only when the on-screen keys are pressed. If you connect a MIDI controller with no speakers, pressing its keys makes no sound, so keep that in mind.

All 21 nursery songs are free, the first classical piece and the first ear training level are free, and free play is free too. A one-time purchase opens the rest of the classical pieces and every ear training level. There are no ads and no subscription.

When to start is in What Age Should a Child Start Piano?, and what you can do at home before lessons is in What to Do at Home Before Piano Lessons Start.