Quiet musical toys with duct tape
Oh, boy, Candice. I think I just heard the cheers of hundreds of parents, followed by the scrabbling sound of everyone rummaging through their drawers in search of the duct tape.
I can't stand the volume of some of my kids' toys (I'm looking at you, riding toys!). For toys that don't have a volume control or for when low volume is too loud, I place a piece of duct tape over the speaker. The sound still comes through, but isn't as loud and shrill.
Candidates for this hack: anything with Dora the Explorer's voice, Spongebob's voice, Barney's voice, Bob the Builder's voice, horribly jingly music...
And you don't have to use the boring, silver stuff! Check out this cool zebra tape!
More: Oh, we've got plenty more duct tape hacks. After all, duct tape is an essential part of the Parenthacker's Toolkit.
(or any Amazon link at Parent Hacks), you throw some change into our tip jar without any extra steps or cost to you. Thank you!
UGH Dora! My daughter turned 3 this week and you can only imagine the number of new DDDDDDora toys we have.
Posted by: Lisa | 04 November 2011 at 11:36 AM
Brilliant!
Posted by: Hillary M | 04 November 2011 at 11:36 AM
I use clear mailing tape so my boys aren't as tempted to peel it off and it still does a great job of muting the sound! Though I imagine the duct tape does a great job staying put with little hands :)
http://www.whatilivefor.net/2010/04/diy-mute-your-kids-toys.html
Posted by: Judy | 04 November 2011 at 12:22 PM
We use painter's tape, since it won't leave any lasting residue. Our toddler doesn't even notice it's there.
Posted by: Dennis | 04 November 2011 at 12:44 PM
We do packing tape too, as it's less likely to be detected/removed :)
That, or batteries get removed and we *never* seem to have the right size to replace them!
Posted by: Amanda | 04 November 2011 at 12:44 PM
I use electrical tape. You can usually find a color that matches the toy, so it's less visible/tempting to peel off. (The five-color pack has never failed us!) It also doesn't leave the industrial-strength residue that duct tape can.
Posted by: Daffodil | 04 November 2011 at 03:01 PM
And when tape fails (they peel it off or poke holes in it), silicone caulk is your friend. It comes in handy dandy single-use tubes, and you can get it in clear (what I did) or attempt to match the caulk to the color of the toy.
Posted by: Emily | 04 November 2011 at 04:46 PM
We use packing tape also. For the extra loud toys, we place a flat cotton pad (the kind you use for make-up) underneath. We've never had a problem with the kids picking at it.
Posted by: Trac | 04 November 2011 at 05:08 PM
My aunt put band-aids for extra sound insulation on all of the speakers on her daughters' toys!
Posted by: polymathamy | 05 November 2011 at 06:46 AM
We put caulk in the speakers and it worked wonders. All of our friends thought this was a brilliant idea! When you live in a building with a bunch of other people without children, you need to be as creative as possible.
Posted by: Anita B | 05 November 2011 at 05:17 PM
Great idea if you must keep this toy in the house. How about replacing the toys with ones that don't have music? Now don't get me wrong, I love music. Our family sings together regularly and I've written 14 children's songs. So music is wonderful for the soul... except when it's coming out of a toy and you didn't choose the music.
Posted by: Larraine | 07 November 2011 at 12:56 AM
We use painter's tape too.
Posted by: Laura Cooley | 08 November 2011 at 01:30 PM
I have been known to pry a toy apart and stick a piece of foam rubber in the speaker. The caulk is a great idea, and a much quicker fix!
Posted by: christine | 08 February 2012 at 08:08 PM