This is a first instrument with two ways to play. Across the top of the red Baoli body run eight coloured xylophone bars for tapping with the mallets, and along the front sit eight chunky piano keys for little fingers that are not ready for a mallet yet. Both make the sound straight away, which is what keeps a toddler coming back to it.

Eight notes are a full scale. The first bar carries a treble clef, the next six are numbered 2 to 7 and the last is a dotted 1 for the high note, which is how simple songbooks and school music cards write a tune, so an older child can follow a numbered melody note by note. A younger one simply taps the colours and listens.

The colours run in a rainbow from orange through red, blue, green, peach, yellow and pink to purple, on the bars and the keys alike, so naming colours and matching them becomes its own game. Two white mallets with round heads come in the box, enough for a parent or a brother or sister to play along.

There is nothing to switch on: no batteries, no speaker and no recorded tunes. The sound comes from the bars themselves, and that is part of the appeal for parents who want a musical toy that is not another flashing screen.

The box is marked 18M+ and reads Baoli, Melody Music Maker, No. 2005, with four promises: candy-like colours, clear sound, music learning and a lovely design. It suits babies from a year and a half through the early school years, and it is a neat birthday present in its own box.

If you want a smaller first xylophone, our 2 in 1 baby piano has five keys and five bars; this Baoli model has eight of each. The price is Rs. 2,250 with Cash on Delivery across Pakistan, from Karachi and Lahore to Islamabad, Gujranwala and Quetta. Stock, your city and the delivery charge are confirmed on WhatsApp before dispatch.

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