A pounding toy

Such a cute, fun toy! My daughter has appreciated different qualities of this toy at different ages.

We love this toy! Honestly I think it's my favorite toy my kiddo owns, lol. My toddler who is now 20 months, has had this toy for a little over 6 months now and still plays with is almost daily. The craftsmanship is wonderful, it's extremely sturdy, I've caught the little guy briefly standing on it(until mom comes running over to stop him, of course) multiple times and he's 25 pounds. Even all the removable parts and constructed very well. You can tell that this company really cares about quality. Here's a breakdown of how the toy works: when the xylophone and the balls are all in place, the child hammers each ball through (takes a 2-3 taps) and the ball rolls down the xylophone hitting the metal pieces making a pleasant sound on its way. It's very easy to use, and it's an easy concept for the learning toddler. I'd say at 1 year and up is a great age, earlier than that maybe just the xylophone part and close monitoring with the hammer as it could pose a choking hazard (long handle). The xylophone is removable if the child feels like just a jam sesh on it which is great, it has a little handle for easy portability and my little one likes to just run around with it sometimes. Another great thing is that other objects work fine at making music on this xylophone, even a plastic megablox piece for example, which allows a little room for creativity and exploration of materials. I do wish they sold extra wooden balls though, or maybe if it came with an extra set. If your playroom, or toy box is anything like mine, there are lots of little things and stuff like that can easily get seperated and temporarily misplaced. After all this time, that is the only draw back for me. (...)

We gave this to my daughter for her 1st birthday and she LOVED it. It was the perfect gift for her developmental stage. She favored it over all her other gifts (and other toys) and spent long sessions playing with it daily. She's 15 months now, and still loves playing with it. This is a great bang for your buck toy. The balls are just the right size for her hand, and loves those on their own (she has many balls, but favors these). She's always carrying them around the house. Pushing the balls through the holes is really fun to her. You have to push just a little to get them to go through, it's a good challenge, but it never frustrates her. She always claps when they go in. The xylophone tinkling as it rolls down is very satisfying. It's also fun on it's own to make music. Then the hammer option is another element that she thinks is fun. All these things help her develop her motor movements. It's a smart toy. It combines the Montessori ball drop, music, hammer, etc. Can't say enough great things about this toy. Quality is fabulous and it looks nice. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE. (My mom's dog chewed up one of the balls, but we were able to order a replacement set that fit perfect from Hape.)

This is amazing. So well thought out. Toddlers love it! The mallet head is rubberized, so it doesn't make a terribly loud noise but is still fun for the child. The inner rings of the ball placement holes are also rubberized to hold them in place when the child is hitting them. The ring of color around each hole matches the corresponding ball which creates an opportunity for color matching. All edges are nicely rounded and the finishes/ paint seem durable. The xylophone is good quality and fun! (The adults in the house have been playing with it as much as the children.) It comes with a book of beginner songs to practice, which is awesome!

This xylophone bench is a pretty toy - it feels solid, the wood is good quality and the paint is vibrant. The balls are very solid and heavy, which is great now, although there may be a time when I have to take them away for fear of them going through a window. My triplets love picking up the mallet and banging on the xylophone and they also like rolling the balls around, although they haven't gotten the hang of knocking the balls through yet. It's nice that the xylophone comes out to give flexibility to the toy before kids are old enough to hammer the balls through. There are two things that would make this a better toy, though - 1. The xylophone is drastically out of tune. I read this in other reviews before purchasing and thought it was a silly complaint about a child's toy, but it really is pretty annoying. It's not that the notes are a little sharp or flat, they are just bad. When I try to play little songs like Mary Had a Little Lamb for the kids, the song is not a little off, it's unrecognizable. Similarly, running the mallet down the xylophone does not create a pleasing noise. That means when the kids are too old to enjoy random noise and ball hammering, the toy will be useless because the xylophone cannot be used as an actual instrument, even a rudimentary one. 2. The balls (when knocked through the holes) roll too quickly down the xylophone. They basically bounce off two notes simultaneously and out the hole. I'm sure the kids will still appreciate that when they hammer the ball through it makes a noise, but if the xylophone had been a little less sloped, maybe, the ball would have rolled nicely down and played a soothing scale. Assume the xylophone tubes made a scale, which they do not (see 1. above). In summary - it's a nice toy that looks like it will last, but the couple of issues I have seem like missed opportunities to create a toy that would be fun for older children (and their parents) as well.

This is a great quality toy. Love that the xylophone can be pulled out to use as a music toy separate from the ball frame. My now one year old received this when she was nine months old and within a few weeks had figured out how to use the hammer to bang on the balls. She also enjoys banging the balls together and rolling them. My 2 and 3 year old nephews also enjoy playing with this toy when they come over. We’ve only had it a few months but it seems very durable and I anticipate using it for years to come. One feature that I do wish this had which I’ve seen on others is a built in tray to catch the balls as they do roll out quickly and on tile floors like ours tend to get lost.

Perfect! I purchased this as a gift for a friend's 1 year old baby girls party and she said she loves it.

We have had this toy for years and my kids have LOVED IT. They have beaten on it with the included hammer, slammed the balls into it while learning to place them, and really just put this toy to the test. It still looks NEW. Barely any visible dents or scratches. This is truly an heirloom quality toy that stands the test of time. We’ve gifted it multiple times and every family has loved it.