It is never too early to introduce children to the world of music, especially with toys that are durable, easy to use, and offer several ways to play.
Take the wooden Pound and Tap Bench, which has a xylophone beneath its ball-pounding bench. This multifunctional toy combines musical skills and color recognition with the fun of using hands and strength to pound balls through the holes. The little bench is lightweight, sturdy, smoothly polished, and finished with bright, water-based paint for a cheerful, charming look.
The top has 3 round holes that hold the balls partway through. A little hammer lets children knock the balls down, or they can use their own hands to push or pound them through.
When a ball drops onto the metal xylophone below, it rolls along the notes, making sounds that children love and enjoy repeating again and again. This fulfills the toy's purpose of stimulating touch, sight, and hearing. Simple to play with, yet wonderfully special.
This clever design has earned many awards, including the 2018 Cribsie Award for Best Musical Toy, a 2015 Gold Award in the Eco category at the UK's Independent Toy Awards (read the award news), and the Golden Rocking Horse award in Germany in 2011.
If you are looking for a fun toy that builds essential skills while combining music, colors, and active play, Pound and Tap Bench fits the bill.
Pound the Balls, Play the Xylophone, and Learn Colors
The Pound and Tap Bench is a multifunctional toy for children aged 12 months and up. It consists of a sturdy little wooden bench with 3 ball holes, a removable xylophone, three colored balls, and a wooden hammer. Explore more toys for this age in our toys for one-year-olds collection, and always follow the age recommendation on the box (AAP advice on choosing toys).
It is designed to support fine motor development, color recognition, listening, and arm and leg movements.
Place the balls in the matching colored rings. Children love touching objects and learning to use their strength, so it is natural for them to enjoy hitting the balls with their palms or the hammer.
Pounding sends the ball tumbling down like Alice down the rabbit hole, except that it lands on a little, clear-toned xylophone instead of in Wonderland.
According to the principle of cause and effect, every action has a consequence. In this case, it is the sound of a xylophone!
Musical instruments can hold children's attention. To make playing and learning easier, the xylophone can be removed simply by sliding it out to the side. This reveals the hammer's second use: it delivers a powerful blow to the balls, but produces gentle sounds on the xylophone to create pleasant melodies.
Rainbow Music to Explore Notes and Colors
You may notice that this wooden bench, with its 3 balls and rainbow-colored xylophone, is especially colorful. These colors are chosen to support children's development. The blue ball matches the blue hole, which lines up with xylophone keys in similar shades of purple, blue, and light blue. The same principle applies to the green and red ball holes.
Color recognition is one of the skills children can develop through play. We can help by saying the color's name when a child picks up the matching ball (read more: why children should play with colorful wooden toys).
Identifying and remembering colors is an important part of children's cognitive development. This preschool skill supports their ability to make connections and match pictures with words. That is why, as parents and caregivers, we should encourage children to become familiar with colors.
How to Teach Your Little One About Colors
Colors influence our moods and feelings. They can support tasks and highlight important details, or create a sense of calm and relaxation.
The Pound and Tap Bench with its xylophone offers a natural opportunity to introduce basic colors, then gradually explore the differences between more subtle shades. The three balls are blue, green, and red, basic colors that are easy to find around us. Meanwhile, the rainbow xylophone offers shades related to the balls, such as dark blue, purple, and light blue, or red, orange, and yellow. Once children become familiar with colors, the next step of connecting them with moods and feelings becomes easier.
Play, Have Fun, and Get Moving with Hape Pound and Tap Bench
Overall, Hape Pound and Tap Bench is a sturdy, durable, yet lightweight play station. It looks simple, but its bright colors catch the eye, and its easy-to-understand activities skillfully support development.
Children can put the balls into the matching colored holes, then pound them with the included hammer. This activity stimulates children's cognitive abilities on several levels:
- First, putting the balls into the round holes helps children become familiar with the concept of geometric shapes.
- Second, this toy calls for fine motor skills: the ability to handle objects, grasp them, and let them go. Feeling different textures and using force to pound teaches children different ways to interact with objects.
- Also, when a ball drops through a hole, it briefly disappears from the child's view. Just like peekaboo, this helps children learn that objects still exist even when we cannot see them. This understanding, known as object permanence, lays the foundation for children to gradually understand that when their parents briefly leave their sight, they will come back.
- The toy also adds a musical element. When a ball hits the xylophone keys below, it encourages children to explore the world of the seven musical notes. Besides being part of our everyday experiences, music is also a way to express feelings. It provides entertainment and an activity that practices listening.
- Finally, this play activity encourages hand-eye coordination and fine motor development. Children use their fingers, hands, and arms to play. It also encourages them to crawl, or stand up and walk around the room, as the balls roll away and children walk or crawl to retrieve them.
If you are looking for an excellent developmental toy, Hape is a good choice, with a wide range of wooden toys that support children's development at every age.
Thoughtfully designed around children's learning, these toys help them practice important skills such as looking, listening, observing, using fine motor skills, solving problems, imagining, and creating. They also encourage integrated academic learning through STEAM.
With durable designs and sturdy materials, the toys focus on supporting children's development while prioritizing their safety. They use non-toxic paint and FSC-certified wood, are made to last, and are environmentally friendly.
Hape is therefore a global wooden toy brand that has received toy awards from many organizations and follows international standards such as ICTI, ISO 14001, and ISO 9001 in its production systems.
What matters most is sharing happy moments as a family, because where there is love, there is a complete home.
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