I think one of the nicest gifts you can give a child is a musical instrument.  Music is good for the soul, and if you chose the right instrument, your child will make beautiful sounds instead of irritating noise.

Make that musical instrument a Fair Trade, natural toy, and you have a great green gift!

The Suling Flute from Down to Earth Toys, a site featuring great natural toys, is beautiful and easy to play.  Made from bamboo with a clever reed design, this flute plays all the notes on the scale.  My family’s experience with the flute match Down to Earth’s product description (only we had two sets of hands vying for a turn):

When we pulled this flute out of the box, we were amazed at the beautiful rich sound it produced (not like the sound of the recorders we used to play in grade school).  My husband could not put it down, and our son reached up to try to pull it out of our hands (of course he got a turn too).

This Fair Trade flute from Indonesia features a hand carved dragon to inspire young musicians.

Typically, I advocate for natural toys that are made closer to home, as they have a smaller carbon footprint; however, this suling flute is not some plastic crap toy from China.  The Fair Trade certification gives me peace of mind, and I also value exposing my children to natural safe wooden toys from other countries.

Besides, this bamboo flute is fun to play!