Top positive review
9 people found this helpful
Great addition to any home!
By Sonita Lewis on Reviewed in the United States on March 5, 2011
We homeschool our young children (preschool & 1st grade) and so I bought this for my sons because one of my favorite memories of elementary school was music class. This is high quality stuff, as all Melissa and Doug items I have bought have been. My kids love this set and play with it all the time. My only complaint would be the xylophone. The bars are wooden and so the sound is dull as it's a small, table top xylophone that doesn't have resonators and they are attached to tightly to the frame. But they do not all sound the same as I read in some reviews, you can hear that the shorter bars play higher notes, it is just a very dull sounding xylophone. If your main concern is a xylophone, I suggest you look elsewhere for one with metal bars for children or one with wooden bars on a stand, attached with cord and with resonators. Keep in mind, these sets are geared for preschoolers, they are made to be safe and durable, not for quality of sound. The rest of the instruments are great. We use our set every day. We turn on some worship/praise music and have a blast singing, dancing and playing our instruments. The kids love it and it's a great way to introduce kids to the concept of steady beat, tempo, and auditory perception. I'm very pleased with this purchase and plan on buy more instruments to add to our collection soon.
Top critical review
I usually love Melissa and Doug but I wouldn't recommend this set
By AF1983 on Reviewed in the United States on January 30, 2015
Parts of this set are nice, but the xylophone is worthless. It's wood and just barely makes a sound. Pretty much just sounds like hitting wood. So if your wanting this set mainly for the xylophone don't buy it. The kazoo didn't work I don't know if maybe a little plastic piece fell out amongst all the christmas wrap and stuff or what but it just sounds like air when you blow it. The red handled thing with the green piece isn't very impressive and neither are any of the wooden stick things. They liked the triangle, the tambourines, the harmonica, the castanets and the recorder. If I had it to do over I'd just buy a recorder, a regular tambourine and a harmonica.
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Great addition to any home!
By Sonita Lewis - Reviewed in the United States on March 5, 2011
Verified Amazon Purchase
We homeschool our young children (preschool & 1st grade) and so I bought this for my sons because one of my favorite memories of elementary school was music class. This is high quality stuff, as all Melissa and Doug items I have bought have been. My kids love this set and play with it all the time. My only complaint would be the xylophone. The bars are wooden and so the sound is dull as it's a small, table top xylophone that doesn't have resonators and they are attached to tightly to the frame. But they do not all sound the same as I read in some reviews, you can hear that the shorter bars play higher notes, it is just a very dull sounding xylophone. If your main concern is a xylophone, I suggest you look elsewhere for one with metal bars for children or one with wooden bars on a stand, attached with cord and with resonators. Keep in mind, these sets are geared for preschoolers, they are made to be safe and durable, not for quality of sound. The rest of the instruments are great. We use our set every day. We turn on some worship/praise music and have a blast singing, dancing and playing our instruments. The kids love it and it's a great way to introduce kids to the concept of steady beat, tempo, and auditory perception. I'm very pleased with this purchase and plan on buy more instruments to add to our collection soon.
Super fun - great variety - holds up well
By tracybgee - Reviewed in the United States on October 7, 2009
Verified Amazon Purchase
This is a great set of instruments for kids! All wood, which I really liked. Considering it's a set for kids, I wasn't expecting much in the way of rich tones or perfectly pitched instruments - these are for playing with and are very fun! I got this to use at my one year old's birthday party - we had a music tent with a keyboard and a guitar for the kiddos, and included this set to go along with those things. It was a huge hit - the kids all had a great time and with so many pieces in the set, there was plenty of good stuff to go around. The kids (ranging in age from one to 13) really gave these pieces a beating, but they all held up beautifully. The xylophone was very popular and clearly was pounded (evidenced by the beaten "patina" it now has) but is still solid as a rock, as are the sticks. The only problem piece in the set is the recorder, which arrived extremely loose at it's "joint" and now won't stay together. A bit of a bummer, but easy to fix with a bit of glue. Now that the party is over, my little one is still enjoying these instruments and visits the box (which is a great storage piece!) daily to make a little music. Highly recommend this set!
Promises to provide hours of fun for my little one
By Bldpmom - Reviewed in the United States on October 28, 2023
Verified Amazon Purchase
My granddaughter loves all sounds - loud sounds, soft sounds, shrill sounds, booming sounds - ALL sounds. I just know she is going to love these musical instruments. This brand of toy produces quality products, so I don't expect any issues. The size of the set for the price I paid was amazing. I'm looking forward to gifting this on Christmas. I can't wait for the performance I expect I'll be enjoying after she gets her hands on all these instruments!!
24 hours of fun!
By Carrington - Reviewed in the United States on November 11, 2011
Verified Amazon Purchase
My 3-year-old son and 2-year-old daughter absolutely love these instruments! They wake up in the morning and before they ask for breakfast or for a drink, they ask to play with these instruments! My son's favorite one is the xylophone. It's the one instrument out of the whole bunch that isn't so durable. every once in a while i have to push the bars back onto the nobs that hold them in place. However, they've never fallen off completely. The xylophone isn't tuned completely, as other people have commented. I cannot complain about that though because my son and daughter don't care that it's out of tune, they only care about playing. Also, the day after my son began playing with it, I noticed that the paint started chipping off of it. Everything else works nicely. The recorder DOES play and it IS tuned. My Hubby plays the harmonica with them. It's super cute! So I think that for the money we payed for it, this instrument set is just perfect!
Beautiful set
By Reader from Mayland - Reviewed in the United States on August 2, 2022
Verified Amazon Purchase
This brightly painted wooden musical instrument set is sturdy, fun to play with and the instruments are all ( but one) real, not toys. The kazoo was not well made and did not work. Everything else was perfect.
I usually love Melissa and Doug but I wouldn't recommend this set
By AF1983 - Reviewed in the United States on January 30, 2015
Verified Amazon Purchase
Parts of this set are nice, but the xylophone is worthless. It's wood and just barely makes a sound. Pretty much just sounds like hitting wood. So if your wanting this set mainly for the xylophone don't buy it. The kazoo didn't work I don't know if maybe a little plastic piece fell out amongst all the christmas wrap and stuff or what but it just sounds like air when you blow it. The red handled thing with the green piece isn't very impressive and neither are any of the wooden stick things. They liked the triangle, the tambourines, the harmonica, the castanets and the recorder. If I had it to do over I'd just buy a recorder, a regular tambourine and a harmonica.
Absolutely LOVE it!!
By leah - Reviewed in the United States on December 26, 2016
Verified Amazon Purchase
Okay so I bought this as a Christmas present for my one year old son and he LOVES it!!! I was very hesitant about buying it and even bought a totally different one just in case because of the reviews left on here. This instrument set is meant for children so of course the recorder doesnt make the right notes and the xylophone isn't very impressive but its a great starter set. This was an awesome buy and totally worth your money. All the toys are wooden and well made and they are absolutely adorable. Do not be swayed my the negative comments!!
Noisy but wonderful
By Jennifer R. Thornton - Reviewed in the United States on January 7, 2008
Verified Amazon Purchase
My 5 year old and 2 year old love this set! It is a very good quality set. Every thing (this is supposed to be wood) is made out of high quality wood. The other pieces are made of other high quality material (hermonic has no wood in it but is made of good materials). One of the clappers (That is what my kids call them not sure of the true name) had been broken but I have no clue how that happened (it was found under their bed broken after they had some friends over). Their dad was able to fix it and the kids don't know the difference.
Love this for my sibling
By Brenna - Reviewed in the United States on December 6, 2023
Verified Amazon Purchase
Bought this for my nephew so he could make his parents beautiful music. Basically if you’re an auntie and need to buy your nieces or nephews a great gift that your siblings will love this it
Play the music
By adrienne edelstein - Reviewed in the United States on November 10, 2023
Verified Amazon Purchase
The assortment of instruments were great for all age groups. My niece (2 yrs old) did not which instrument to try first. It was easy for her to use. Great item
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