Push Button, Get Jingle Bells
December 11, 2019 9:30 PM Subscribe
I need a toy, or idea to convert some smart home stuff into, a push button get Jingle Bells situation for a non-verbal 13yr old developmentally disabled girl.
So my daughter is 13, developmentally disabled, and non verbal. She loves Jingle Bells. Not Jingle Bell Rock, not Silver Bells, but bog standard Burl Ives kinda Jingle Bells. Mostly, I wish to give her some plush toy, that when you push an easy button on it, plays Jingle Bells. Preferably with words, but w/o also interesting to know about. Obviously I can search Amazon and the Net and I've found a few potentials but really want this to work so asking for anyone who has experience with a specific toy that does exactly what I'm looking for. Alternatively, I'm getting into smart home stuff, and wondering if maybe someone knows a way to set up a "smart button" that when tapped will play a selected Jingle Bells song (like from spotify or amazon music) out of an Echo Dot or something. Still noob at that sort of thing, but willing to work on it with Zigbee, Zwave, Wifi, whatever. Cost isn't a big issue here, just want push button get Jingle Bells in some fashion. Thanks.
So my daughter is 13, developmentally disabled, and non verbal. She loves Jingle Bells. Not Jingle Bell Rock, not Silver Bells, but bog standard Burl Ives kinda Jingle Bells. Mostly, I wish to give her some plush toy, that when you push an easy button on it, plays Jingle Bells. Preferably with words, but w/o also interesting to know about. Obviously I can search Amazon and the Net and I've found a few potentials but really want this to work so asking for anyone who has experience with a specific toy that does exactly what I'm looking for. Alternatively, I'm getting into smart home stuff, and wondering if maybe someone knows a way to set up a "smart button" that when tapped will play a selected Jingle Bells song (like from spotify or amazon music) out of an Echo Dot or something. Still noob at that sort of thing, but willing to work on it with Zigbee, Zwave, Wifi, whatever. Cost isn't a big issue here, just want push button get Jingle Bells in some fashion. Thanks.
My daughter has a recordable storybook from her grandma from Hallmark. I see that they have some Christmas themed ones. I wonder if making the first page the song would be enjoyable to her. I can see a few issues with the medium though: maybe the recordings are limited in length? Maybe she wants the story too? Maybe she mashes the buttons and messes up the recording?
I started poking around their site looking for a recordable ornament which it seems they have a few but also hard to tell if they have exactly what you need. I’d be tempted to contact their customer service department and see if they have any idea because it’s Hallmark!
posted by amanda at 7:00 AM on December 12, 2019
I started poking around their site looking for a recordable ornament which it seems they have a few but also hard to tell if they have exactly what you need. I’d be tempted to contact their customer service department and see if they have any idea because it’s Hallmark!
posted by amanda at 7:00 AM on December 12, 2019
Best answer: You can totally do this with Alexa.
Get an Echo Dot (they have holiday sales now, $24.99) and an Echo Button (currently $16.99 for two), and set up a Routine to play your preferred version of Jingle Bells when the Echo Button is pressed. Voila!
posted by Ender's Friend at 10:28 AM on December 12, 2019 [1 favorite]
Get an Echo Dot (they have holiday sales now, $24.99) and an Echo Button (currently $16.99 for two), and set up a Routine to play your preferred version of Jingle Bells when the Echo Button is pressed. Voila!
posted by Ender's Friend at 10:28 AM on December 12, 2019 [1 favorite]
I'm an assistive technology maker with a Canadian charity. We do toy hacks that add switches to commercial musical plush toys. I'm checking with the team if anyone in our milieu knows of a non-dire soft toy version of Jingle Bells, but all the ones I can readily find sound awful (I mean: Sing-a-ma-Jigs — Fisher-Price, what were you thinking? Nobody wanted their soft toys to sound like Fred Schneider caught in a speak-and-spell).
posted by scruss at 10:51 AM on December 12, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by scruss at 10:51 AM on December 12, 2019 [3 favorites]
Response by poster: Thank you all. Appreciate your time. I was somehow totally unaware of the Echo Buttons. Those toy hacks look really interesting too. We have burned through so many push button get noise/lights plush toys.
posted by ixipkcams at 5:54 PM on December 12, 2019
posted by ixipkcams at 5:54 PM on December 12, 2019
Response by poster: Also, wanted to add, had not thought of the re-recordable toy/button idea before reading the responses mostly, I guess, because I figured there would be more decent jingle bells products out there. But for anyone else interested, there are a ton of recordable buttons and toys out there.
posted by ixipkcams at 6:21 PM on December 12, 2019
posted by ixipkcams at 6:21 PM on December 12, 2019
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by sacrifix at 10:34 PM on December 11, 2019 [2 favorites]