Mini Mozarts

by Eleanor de Bruin
The bright and eye-catching Discovery Magical Melody Maker from Tomy allows young children to manoeuvre chunky musical-instrument shaped pieces to create different melodies.

When each piece is placed in the centre of the magical stage, it dances around and plays its own tune. As more pieces are added, the tune changes to include the instrument that has been added, until the whole of the little orchestra is playing. Five different melodies can be produced, depending on which piece you start with.

Each instrument has its own storage pocket, and children can learn colour and shape-matching as they put each part into the correct section. The toy is priced around £29.99 and encourages manual dexterity, imagination and problem solving in children from 18 months upwards.