My daughter, now 4, was given this set for her first birthday. It's real percussion instruments, shaped perfectly for small hands, in a box a little like a fruit crate. The box is long gone, but the instruments are in regular use by both my daughter and her little brother.

The instruments in question are a triangle, tambourine, maracas, thumb cymbals, woodblock and castanets. In our set, the traingle lost it's holder quickly, and we've obviously had to replace that, but I think that's a common problem with triangles.

All the instruments are made of smooth wood, and all have a pleasant sound. The tambourine and cymbals aren't tinny at all, the triangle makes a nice clear 'ding', even the woodblock has a pleasant tone. The coloured instruments are stained, not painted, so they've kept their colour throughout a lot of use.

As for ease of use, apart from the finger cymbals and triangle, my 9 month old can get a sound out of everything, and enjoys trying. When my daughter recieved them at a year old, she had a great time making music. I find them pleasant to hold as an adult, too. They're really well made, and well shaped, to be appropriate for the job for the whole family.