Simple, high-quality musical instruments for babies don't get much better than this. Smoothly finished wood, bright colorful design (water-based paint safe for drooling on!), and perfectly sized and shaped to encourage little ones to join that family band! My youngest son, aged 1.5, didn't waste a minute in making music when these came out of the box. Its so fun to watch how he experiments with the sounds and how they change with variations of speed and position. The guiro and stick in particular were so pleasing to him as he tapped and rubbed the stick against the ridges. I also found my 3.5 year old picking it up to try as we danced to some favorite CDs. Its easy to see how instruments such as these can quickly build a child's confidence in and enjoyment of music! I'm sure the other Hape musical sets are equally wonderful.