Suitcase Record Player

Jenson Suitcase Record Player
Ages: 4 and up
When I was a little kid, my brother and I had our own little suitcase record player. No, I don't mean the toy kind with the little plastic records! This was a real record player, and we had our own collection of records, including full-sized records and 45's. We would spend hours sitting up in our room listening to music, as well as the types of records that played a children's story and came with a book to read along. We had to learn how to be gentle with the records, how to place the needle carefully down on the record, and the different speeds that would play the little records versus the big records. I remember how much I loved watching the record go around and around, and the gentle crackling sound behind the music. Listening to tapes (and later, CD's and mp3's) was never the same!
Luckily, vinyl is back in vogue, and any kid can own a record player just like we did. You can probably find a lot of old records for really cheap at places like Half Price Books and thrift shops... but you can also buy them new now! I would even like to buy one for myself one of these days. Every little kid should grow up with a record player. Don't you agree?