A first instrument works best when a toddler gets a sound the moment they touch it. This red 2 in 1 baby piano and xylophone gives them two ways to do that: press one of the five chunky keys along the front, or tap one of the five coloured bars on top with a green mallet. Two mallets come in the box, so a parent or an older brother or sister can play along.

The pack is marked for 18 months and up, and the toy is shaped for that age. The keys are big square blocks a small fist can push down, the body is rounded red plastic without sharp corners, and the wide flat base lets it sit on the floor, a play mat or a table.

Five keys and five bars are few enough for a toddler to explore one at a time and enough for a parent to pick out the opening of a nursery rhyme. Naming the colour of each key and bar becomes its own game, and tapping softly and then hard teaches cause and effect faster than any explanation.

There are no batteries and no speaker. The sound is the tone of the bars themselves, which most parents find far easier to live with than a toy that beeps.

It arrives in a window box with the instrument on show, ready to give at a toddler's birthday or for Eid without extra wrapping. Older children who have outgrown it usually move on to a full wooden xylophone or a keyboard with more keys.

Order with Cash on Delivery anywhere in Pakistan, from Lahore and Karachi to Islamabad and Faisalabad; stock, your city and the delivery charge are confirmed on WhatsApp before dispatch.

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