# Rainbow xylophone ## Rainbow xylophone Eight bright bars, one colour each. Tap a bar for a note, swipe across them for a run, or play with every finger at once. The notes all fit together, so whatever a child plays sounds like music. ## About this toy Eight rainbow bars, longest and lowest on the left (on an upright phone, at the bottom, in two columns on a short one). They use only five notes of the scale, C D E G A, so any bars played in any order, even all at once, sound pleasant: there are no wrong notes. Each bar bounces when it sounds, so the music can be seen too. Three- and four-year-olds like sweeping a whole hand across the bars; from about six, children often pick out simple tunes, and the note names below help with that. Notes ring for a moment, and the round arrow at the top silences them at once. ### How to play Tap a bar to play it. Slide a finger across the bars for a run up or down. Use several fingers for chords. The round arrow at the top stops any notes still ringing. ### A good first go Play "Mary Had a Little Lamb": E D C D E E E, then D D D, then E G G. The note names go C D E G A C D E from the longest bar. ### Good to know It is a toy with eight notes, not a full instrument: there are no sharps or flats and no lower octave. Bars are big for small hands, so a phone held upright shows them as rows instead of columns. Sound starts after the first tap, and in silent mode on an iPhone or iPad it stays quiet unless "Play with the silent switch on" is ticked above. How the sounds are made, with the numbers: [how the sounds work](https://fidgetkey.com/how-the-sounds-work/#xylophone). Last updated 11 October 2026 ## How to play - **Tap** a bar: it bounces and rings. - **Swipe** a finger across the bars for a quick run up or down; each bar sounds as the finger reaches it. - **Several fingers** play several bars together, so small hands can make chords. - **Start again** (the round arrow) stops every bar that is still ringing. - **Keyboard:** Tab to a bar and press Space or Enter. ## Why there are no wrong notes The bars use only five different notes, C, D, E, G and A, repeated higher up. That five-note set is the pentatonic scale, found in folk songs and nursery tunes all over the world. It leaves out F and B, the two notes that rub against their neighbours, so no pair of bars clashes. A child banging away at random still makes something that sounds like a tune, which is exactly the point of a first instrument. ## Little tunes to try - Count the bars from the left (or from the bottom on an upright phone). Play 3, 2, 1, 2, 3, 3, 3: the start of a well-known nursery tune. - Play every bar from low to high, then high to low, like a slide. - Take turns: one person plays two notes, the other copies them. - Play the two red-and-orange bars together, then the two blue ones: two little chords. ## What makes a xylophone sound like a xylophone A wooden bar struck with a mallet makes a bright, short note. Real xylophone bars are shaped underneath so their strongest overtone sits three times above the main note, which gives the instrument its clear, woody ring. Each bar here is synthesized the same way: a main tone, a quieter tone three times higher, a faint one higher still, and a tiny knock where the mallet would hit. Higher bars fade faster, just like the short bars on the real thing. ## Good to know The sound is made on the device, so nothing is downloaded and the xylophone keeps working without a connection. Volume starts in the middle and is limited so a burst of ten fingers never gets harsh. The bars bounce when touched, so even with the sound off a child can see each note. ## Questions people ask ### Can my child play wrong notes? No. All eight bars belong to the same five-note scale, so any combination sounds pleasant. ### Does it work with many fingers at once? Yes. Every finger is tracked separately, so two-handed chords and runs work on iPads and phones. ### Why are the bars sideways on my phone? On an upright phone, eight columns would be too thin for small fingers, so the bars turn into rows. Turn the phone on its side to see them as columns. ### Is it in tune with a piano? Yes. The bars use standard tuning, the same as a piano, starting an octave above middle C. The exact numbers are on the [how the sounds work](https://fidgetkey.com/how-the-sounds-work/#xylophone) page. ### Can we play it without the sound? Yes: press the big speaker button. The bars still bounce when touched. ### Does it need the internet? Only to open the page. Every note is then worked out on the device, so a connection that drops while the page is open does not stop the music, but opening the page again needs one.