Wooden Xylophone for Kids: Best Perfectly Sized Musical Toy for Toddlers - With Clear Sounding Metal Keys, Two Child-Safe Wooden Mallets and a Free Eagle Whistle for Music-Making Fun

This is NOT a "received item... for giving a review" Review- I selected & purchased this product after much searching & reading reviews to find the "just right" one!I'm thankful to all those that take time to write reviews, which enable me to learn more about the product/s so I may select & order with "well informed" confidence. I try to "return the favor" by writing reviews too - some items that I'm "overly thrilled" with will inspire me to write a very detailed review. This is one of those items...MY REVIEW:Purchased and received this "Glockenspiel Xylophone" in excellent condition - plays beautifully, loving the melody!Nice sturdy storage (cardboard) box that has an "old nostalgic" aesthetics about it.Kids - young and old, enjoy playing Xylophones!Was bought with intent of "music time" play with my grandchildren.Once received, my husband played it for at least an hour, he learned to play "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" by ear.PROS:Wood & metal - NO plastic here!Sturdy, beautiful, excellent tuned tones, expect this to become an heirloom for generations to come!Beautiful, vibrate colors, marked with the "letter of each note" upon each key.Excellent value with a great bargain price (mine was purchased under $15 w/ shipping) - perfect gift for all ages.CONS:Grasping at straws here...Only "cons" I could possible come up with:- I'm "overly cautious" & am a "safety nut" when it comes to children, especially very young, less coordinated ones. That said, I may opt to find a way to add some type of "comfort bumper cushions" to the handle ends of the mallets. Just to ensure that it's less likely to have ANY possibility that it may "poke an eye out", as our grandparents would say.- The included "music sheet" is printed very small, making it more difficult for my 54-yr-old eyes to read it easily. That "con" is offset with the fact that it is printed on a heavy duty "card stock" paper, which is a "pro"! Should a "bonus gift" of including a "music sheet" be even counted as a "con"?!? hmm...- In spite of my so-called "cons", I only wish I could give this MORE than five stars!!!As the quality of this Xylophone is superb - in both craftsmanship and melody, I am looking forward to this going from "banging out fun sounds" with the toddlers to actually "making music" as they grow older. From what my husband & I have experienced, we would enjoy "making real music" upon it ourselves, too. So I went on a mega search for a "music book or sheets" to use with our new, proudly owned "Woody Xylophone".Let me say, I spent hours, upon hours (well over 10 hours!) - researching, searching and comparing countless websites AND products until I finally settled upon what I am anticipating to be the perfect "Music Pattern Song Book" companion to our Woody Xylophone. Is it any surprise, it's available here on AMAZON?! *lol* NOTE: I have yet to order this "Music Pattern Song Book" - as I'm writing this, priced @ $13.99, watching in hopes that it *might* be offered for under $10 w/ shipping - or two for $14 would be SWEEEET. *lol* Popular 8 Note Songs: Music Patterns for Glockenspiel, Xylophone, Hand Bells and Piano  – September 23, 2016Per that product's description:"Any eight-note instrument in a C to C scale can be used with this book. Sometimes instruments vary in their color scheme, but most are labeled with the letter of the notes. All of this book’s song patterns are color-coded AND letter-coded, so as long as the instrument is marked with the letter of the notes, you can play along."***BONUS***From the image pictured on the music book's cover - the keys are a color match to THIS Xylophone. How perfect is THAT?!Other "good to know" info that was GIVEN WITHIN THE DESCRIPTION FOR: Popular 8 Note Songs: Music Patterns for Glockenspiel, Xylophone, Hand Bells and Piano – September 23, 2016- which I found to be very informative and worthy of including within this review, is as follows:"A Place to Begin!Many parents and classroom teachers feel unequipped to teach the next generation about music because they had little opportunity to learn themselves. (...) Children delight in banging the keys of a percussion instrument but need some help to know what to do next. (...)""Help for Parents and Teachers!To help school teachers, parents and other community instructors start teaching music with Glockenspiel Xylophones, there are some classroom ideas at the end of this book. (...)""Benefits!It is well documented that learning to play a musical instrument stimulates multiple areas of the brain and increases the brain’s cognitive ability, but it also enhances eye-hand coordination and balance. It can increase math ability and improve reading and comprehension skills as well as listening ability. Playing together in a group boosts leadership and team work skills and teaches discipline. Music fosters self-expression, creates a sense of achievement, relieves stress, and promotes happiness."Needless to say, I am truly pleased and more than satisfied with this Xylophone.Only thing that could possibly make this product even better? Would be to include a "music book"!HINT: Keep that in mind if you have plans of purchasing this Xylophone as a beautiful, heirloom-quality, educational & fun GIFT - perfect for any & all those that are "young-at-heart". Will be adding this to my "great-to-give" list of gifts! May even buy one more for our house, one for me & one for "them" - the beginning of our own musical group, ha!Wow! You read my complete review? :D[...]Welcome to add any comment, too. THANK YOU! Popular 8 Note Songs: Music Patterns for Glockenspiel, Xylophone, Hand Bells and PianoPopular 8 Note Songs: Music Patterns for Glockenspiel, Xylophone, Hand Bells and Piano

Love it so much bought two for my grand baby one fir each house who is 12 months and he loves playing the xylophone and the bells. Wonderful set well made.

W O WTerrific sound! A toy of higher class and value than anything from Fisher Price or other companies off the department store shelves. And for such a small price!!!Plus, this comes with free music to play along (both in the box and online) AND an adorable bald eagle whistle on a satiny feeling necklace string. I gave the "xylophone" to my three year old, though all four teens and both adults in the family keep playing with it. The whistle I gave to my eighteen year old and he loves it. Everyone, in fact, wants one!While simple, it is very well made with quality materials and well-painted, colorful keys. It exceeded my expectations not just for price, but as a toy in general. It is fantastic and sounds great! If it was all silver instead of colorfully designed, it would pass as a portable instrument for all ages instead of as "just" a toy. If this company makes a full size glockenspiel or xylophone, I will track it down and buy it!Xylophones have wooden keys, and glockenspiels have metal keys. Though so many people just label the item with graduated sizes of keys as a xylophone, this "xylophone" is actually a glockenspiel as is almost every "xylophone" I see on the market--and especially among kids' toys.The packaging is overdone. Keep some pocket money, agreatlife, and reduce the packaging and inserts! The box itself is very sturdy and can easily be kept to store the glockenspiel in if not being kept out on the shelf. It's wrapped in twine like one might wrap a gift with ribbon, with 2 quality, unbleached thank you tags attached. Inside, a thick, quality paper with a certificate on one side and the itsy bitsy spider melody to play along to on the other. Also, 2 glossy inserts. One advertises agreatlife with information to receive a replacement in case it breaks, where to get free music sheet, joining the club, and more. The other touts the benefits of a digital device-free childhood and the importance of connecting parents and children through activities that help the child fully grow while instilling nostalgic memories. Honestly, agreatlife, save some trees and production costs, save some packaging time and personnel costs, and reduce the awesome packaging. Everything presented, and the style and materials chosen to do so, well-represent the company's values. But even the people who register this will still just throw it all away, so in the end it's just fancy trash.

Big on supporting my child's cognitive development based on her stages of growth and learning, I was eager to purchase this xylophone for her first birthday. She loves music and most recently has been a big fan of banging things around and of holding and carrying stick-like objects with her everywhere. All of these factors combined made a xylophone/glockenspiel the perfect addition to her play.She loves to dance as Mom or Dad play a song on the xylophone. She gets so much play out of hitting the keys on her own with the small mallets. She loves to keep a mallet with her as she crawls around. And in addition to that all, she gets much play out of simply moving the xylophone around and figuring out how to flip it upside down. The small size is perfect for small hands!I picked this xylophone over others because it is IN TUNE (and sounds marvelous)! Upon looking at a couple of other xylophones, more geared toward babies, I settled on this one due to evidence that the baby toys had one or multiple notes out of tune. And honestly, I was kind of upset not to be able to get the 2-in-1 xylophone and ball pounder. But the sacrifice is well worth it for how beautiful the aGreatLife xylophone sounds!It seems as though a little fairy is creating harmonious music in our play room!The listing says it comes with music sheets. It does not come with physical music sheets, and I admire their reducing paper waste since not all customers will use it (Like my one year old...). However, you are able to get their free music sheets online once you receive your product. It includes "Itsy Bitsy Spider", "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star", "Silent Night", and "Wheels on the Bus".In summary, this product is beautiful both in aesthetics and sound, easy to use, in tune, and it has made me a fan of aGreatLife!

I really like this little xylophone! And it is definitely little, sized for small kids (not for adult jam sessions) and designed to not take up too much space. I actually bought it to see if it would work for some kids music classes, but MY kids play it every time they see it. There's just something about xylophones and kids - and even adults: my 40-something sister was hacking out "Joy To The World" a couple nights ago. I wish it was bigger so I could play it more accurately, but (like Trix) it's for KIDS and is clearly labeled as such.When I first was testing it, I was disappointed at the sound it was producing, much more of a "clink" than a ring. It turned out to be my technique: I was accidentally kinda holding the mallet on the keys for a millisecond after striking it, thus muffling the sound. Once I figured out what I was doing (after inspecting the instrument and making sure this wasn't a manufacturing defect), life was great again (yes, it was aGreatLife). I really think my initial bad technique was a result of my adult struggle to play a kid-sized instrument: I have really big hands, so the mallets and instrument are way small for me. That's my only disappointment - now I need to buy an adult version of this instrument!But even better than the instrument (which is 5-star) is the customer service. The xylophone is made in China, but the customer service is made in America. So many times, someone finds a cheap supplier and becomes nothing more than a middleman to make a few bucks (nothing wrong with making money). They can't handle real customers and issues that may arise with the product. Not the case here. The customer service (and additional songs) starts the moment you order and doesn't stop until you are satisfied (and THEY are satisfied that YOU are satisfied). There is every opportunity possible to reach out to them with issues, and you have no doubt that any and everything will be taken care of right. Yes, it's just a xylophone, but I'd buy anything they make just for the good customer service. I wish more sellers understood this. Buy with confidence in the product and service - there's a reason why everyone gives them 5 stars.