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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Durable tambourine, great fun for my 17-month old, July 24, 2007
Durability:5.0 out of 5 stars Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars Educational:4.0 out of 5 stars
I bought this as it was cheaper than Kmart, which had it for $[...] here in Hawaii. The brand is First Act. These are meant for older children, but with proper supervision, I felt most of the stuff in it was okay for my toddler to use.
My daughter goes to Music Together classes, and I got this so she would have some musical instruments to play with at home when we listen to the music from the class.
She loves the tambourine and the fish and drumstick. She also likes the egg shakers and the spoons. I don't let her have the harmonica or the kazoo as she's too young to use it.
The tambourine is very sturdy. Even after getting whacked repeatedly with the fish, spoons and the drumstick, it doesn't look damaged at all. The jingle sound from the tambourine isn't that great though. The sides are made of wood, and the top part of the tambourine looks almost like thick paper or some kind of animal skin. If you look on the underside of the "skin" there are little pinpricks there that leads me to think it could be some kind of animal skin, but I can't really tell. It is painted white on top, and there is a blue fabric ribbon glued around the edge. The "coins" on the sides seem kind of cheap looking and to be made out of some dull tin material that doesn't sound that great.
The wooden fish and the wood drumstick I think are meant to be used together, and it makes a decent "tock" sound when tapped on. There is a little fish drawing on the drumstick, which itself is the thickness of a cheap wooden spoon you'd find in your kitchen. The stick is also quite short, probably not longer than 6 inches. The fish is hollowed out and has some small detail that makes it resemble a fish. It is also clearcoated with some kind of paint. It is also very sturdy. There are some very small dents on it from my daugher pounding it with the spoons.
The egg shakers are cute and small and look hand-painted rather thickly where you can't see the joint on them. They have a nice soft shaker sound to them. I think I use them more than my daughter. I'm a little wary of the paint since it was made in China, so I just make sure that my daughter doesn't put them on her mouth. They aren't small enough to fit in her mouth, but she might try to suck on them so of course I supervise accordingly.
The spoons are interesting and I haven't figured out how to use them. They are two spoons embedded in a wooden handle. I can tap them on the ground, which makes the tapping noise and the spoons clack together. I have also clacked them together by pressing the spoon handle parts, and that makes a soft metallic clicking noise. My daughter likes to pound the tambourine with the spoons too.
The harmonica is small but sounds pretty good actually.
The kazoo which is blue, we haven't opened yet. The plastic kazoo comes in this small ziploc pouch thing that is affixed to the booklet. There is a ziptie on the ziploc part of the pouch, so I can assume that it is clean (but I will probably clean it with Anywhere spray when I open it). It comes with an instruction book on how to play the kazoo and has a bunch of songs that you can try. The book goes into detail about reading music, but doesn't really teach you if you don't know anything about reading music. It explains the rythym but not the pitch. At the back of the book, there is a little certificate for completing the lessons.
Since all of the parts were made in China, I made sure to clean them, and I also use Clorox Anywhere spray to kill the germs on it. I wipe them dry after two minutes and before giving them to my daughter.
Overall I like this a lot. My daughter really seems to enjoy using the instruments which are similar to those she gets to use in class. The shipping was almost ten bucks to Hawaii, but somehow that amount was reduced to 3 bucks when I purchased it together with some items that had free shipping from Amazon. It took a while to get here, but I felt it was worth it.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great instruments, November 17, 2008
My daughter got this set for xmas when she was around 20 months. She's still playing with it all the time a year later. It's all quality stuff and she could use it all from the start. I was amazed at how fast she learned how the kazoo worked and it was not long after that she started in with the harmonica. The quality of construction is high, however, some of the paint on the egg shakers and on the drum surface now has small chips in it, so I would be careful if your child is still putting things in their mouth.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Fantastic Instruments for Years of Musical Creativity!, May 13, 2009
We have owned a First Act Discovery Band in a Bucket for years!
I have three children who are currently 6, 8, and 16 years old. This set of instruments have been the base of our music box that we have added to over the years, but they are still our favorite instruments. My younger two love the egg shakers, as they are such a gentle sound. The rhythm fish is always a big hit. The tambourine is the next most requested instrument.
We have found plenty of occasions to bring out this set of instruments. From marching band performances, to original musical compositions that need accompaniment, to making noise for the New Year holidays.
After five years of constant use, they are finally starting to show signs of age. The beloved egg shakers' glue finally dried out and we lost the little metal balls that were inside of them. Now it has become an ongoing project to test other small things in them to find the right sound!
I highly recommend the First Act musical toys for years of entertainment!
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