Ordered this for my 2 year old niece and my 8 month old son to play with at their grandma's. We are teaching them music awareness and this works out great. The drum mallets bounce very well and aren't very hard so kid friendly if they accidentally hit one another. The sound isn't as high quality as my more expensive drums that I have for my personal use, but it is great for a kid's drum! So not like those fake drums that hardly give a sound (no matter how you bang them). I've gotten too many of those in the past that kids hate hoping for a good one. However, this one ended up perfect. My niece loved it and was mad when music time was over. I don't think I've seen her sit down in one spot for that long in a while! lol.