Kiddie rides are coin-operated rides for small children. Kiddies rides commonly appear in amusement parks, arcades, malls, hotel game rooms and outside supermarkets and discount department stores. Less commonly, they may also appear in other venues such as restaurants, food courts, grocery shops and auto dealerships. When activated by a coin, a kiddie ride entertains the rider with motion, depending on the ride type (miniature Ferris wheel, miniature carousel, track ride or stationary platform ride). Most rides include sounds and music, and some feature flashing lights, pedals, and buttons. Commercial kiddie rides often use simple but colorful equipment, with the driving mechanism usually hidden under vacuum formed plastic covers.

Many very old rides do not feature music. Also, some vehicle rides may favor engine sounds instead of music. However, on rides that do feature music, early rides (and many cheap modern rides) are equipped with simple ICs that play back one melody in repeat or a set of melodies in sequence before repeating. These have also seen evolution in the sense that the earliest musically-enabled ride played back only a single monophonic melody repetitively, while later ones play back multiple polyphonic melodies and may even include short sound/speech samples. Later rides may play back music from a tape deck, while the latest may have a solid state audio playback device akin to flash-based MP3 players. Usually the music chosen are generic children songs, while on licensed rides, the theme song for the character licensed would be used.

However, in rare cases, rides that play standard pop music have been found, and for private rides, the owner may request a custom song of sentimental value to be programmed into the ride.

Many modern rides, as an amusement equipment , are programmed to play multiple melodies, alternating music each time the ride is used. The logic behind this is to prolong the interest of the child on the ride. The same logic applies to tape deck installed rides and solid state audio playback rides. However, some modern rides, in particular licensed character ones, are usually programmed to play a single piece of melody or song which is usually the theme song of the character's show. The reason behind this is that the theme song is usually associated with the character and that the ride may lose its appeal if the song cannot be associated with the character. There also exists some exceptions where there are non-licensed rides that play only one particular tune (however the tune may be matched to the theme of the ride, for example a song about cars on a car ride), or a licensed ride playing a totally unrelated music piece (usually because the operator replaced the musical source of the ride with a generic musical source due to unavailability of a replacement musical source of the same kind).

There exist certain rides that does not emphasize the music, but plays a running narration or a story instead. They usually have a generic instrumental music piece running softly in background while the story is being told, however.