What would be a good beginner student flute to purchase for my 9 year old child?

I just bought a flute for one of our kids as a Christmas gift, and I got lots of good advice. Let me go find it...

Craigslist and similar sites (or print ads in the paper) is a great place to find a used flute. A "student flute" is normal-sized. It's made of non-sterling metal, with silver plate.

Artley, LeBlanc, and Bundy are some of the main manufacturers for students. Gemeinhardt used to make student flutes. For a new flutist, a student flute is fine.

And open-holed flute is "better" potentially in terms of sound quality, but it costs more, and it requires a bit more expertise. I would wait. For beginners, buy a closed-hole flute.

A student flute is a reasonable first flute.

The Haynes flute company makes higher-end flutes; you might find a good one used (they will be pricey), but I mention them because they have a lot of useful information on their Web site.

You DO need a case; the flute has three pieces; a head piece or embouchure (the mouth piece) a longer middle piece, and a short end piece. The case should include a cleaning rod; it's a long metal stick with a slot in one end (you put a cloth, like a hankerchief partly through the slot and gently insert the rag and rod inside the flute, then pull it out, to clean it.)

The keys should all open and close with out sticking if you press them gently, one at a time. The pads inside the tops of the keys should be tightly fit. There can be scratches, but you want no dents. None.

I bought a silver-plated closed-hole flute for $75.