My wife and I have recently been (t)asked to teach some 6 and 7 year olds at our church. This is a rambunctious age. One of our ideas is to reward the children with music time if things go well.
Whistles are one idea for playing. We don’t dabble in the cheapies much, which would be best? It would be best if they were in tune with each other, I would think. Any chance of that in like a Meg or Gen genre?
What other instruments would you suggest introducing to them?
You can’t go wrong with Clarke Sweetone. Nice whistle, sounds very good, easy to play and it comes in several nice coloures, which children of that age would propably like the most.
I’d say get Megs. I bought one from the Whistle Shop recently (and will eventually get around to reviewing it). It sounds just like, and is in tune with, my two untweaked Sweetones. At half the price, that can’t be beat 
You’re not gonna be letting them at the Bleazey then eh?
Megs or Sweetones, not much wrong with either of them at all for the purposes you describe. I still have one of each, and never have subscribed to the rants others post about Megs being ‘horrible’ or ‘out of tune.’
IMHO I think Sweetones are better for young children, because with the Meg I find the reach for the bottom D quite large. Anyway larger than that of the Sweetone. And 7-8 year old will have small hands.
Steven,
I’ve used Megs in large quatities with groups of kids, very happily. I’ve got some good kid’s tunes on my website.
PM me if you like.
Mark
Steven,
Google “Recorder Karate”. There are some great ideas that you can adapt for the whistle.
My daughter is using this for her music classes in public school and the kids are tracking her down to get to their next belt. She had to give them set times to play for their belts because she couldn’t get anythng else done. They are learning by leaps and bounds.
Sorry for using the R word!
Cheers,
Kathy
Really? I thought I looked at my meg and it was identical to my sweetones (except for the Meg label). I do know the guys from Clarke say they’re the same except for the materials and labor cost.
I’ll have to look again when I get off work today
I have found that even with some eight-year-olds, their little fingers have a hard time finding and covering the tone holes. To the point that I’m considering using a different key for my youngest class at summer music camp this year… check out the digits of your little guys. If they have skinny finger pads, do check out the reach and the size of the tone holes.
Jennie
My Megs and Sweetone are identical as well.
My Meg has a larger reach than my Sweetone on the lowest hole. But I think it is because my Meg is a C and the Sweetone is a D.
Ron
You think? 
Ok…it’s official..megs and sweetones are the same
On a side note, I happen to have a Generation G, and the meg’s stretch is way bigger than it 