These were a gift for our ...
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These were a gift for our children, ages 4 and 1, and we all love them. The sound is like a small windchime - high-pitched and twinkling, and actually very pretty. One end of the mallet is hard plastic and the other end is a bit softer and rubbery, so the sound on that end is slightly muted. The 8 bells make a C scale and each is marked with the letter of the note it represents. Each is also marked with 1 to 8 dots to represent the bell's position in the scale - low C is marked with 1 dot, high C with 8. It can get a little loud when the kids are really banging on it, but on the plus side of that, it seems very durable so far. My only complaint is that the base detaches from the main piece pretty easily - granted, it's marked for ages 3 and up, but when our 1-y-o inevitably gets his hands on it, he constantly takes it apart - so I agree that supervision is a must for the littlest ones. In general, we are huge fans of this toy - and I think the price is incredibly reasonable, too!
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