Beth/PA, a recorder is a small wind instrument with eight holes on top for your fingers, and one on the bottom for your thumb. More elaborate than a pennywhistle, generally made out of wood. Recorders have been around longer than the modern-day flute, but they're similar in their mechanics and timbre. If you're into them you can find some extraordinary recorder and recorder consort music from the Rennaissance and Baroque periods. They come in sizes ranging from bass or baritone up to sopranino, but the soprano recorder is by far the most common. They're also amenable to more "folky" musics, and you don't need to be a virtuoso to get pleasing sounds from them.

If it isn't heresy to say so in this forum, you can pick up a surprisingly good student-grade plastic recorder for next to nothing. I don't think they can really make a decent plastic cello or piano, but recorders are simple enough instruments that this works okay. In fact, it's not uncommon for schools to offer recorder classes as part of the regular music curriculum, and it can be a great way for kids to be introduced to the wide world of musical instruments. Good luck.