After seeing my grandson Alex's reaction to the Quercetti Fantacolor Junior Pegboard Set I was feeling pretty good and so was he.  I had little experience with Quercetti, the Italian edcational toy manufacturer but from what I had seen, I was impressed both with the creativity and the obvious quality of their toys.  So, I decided I would try them again.  They seemed to know how to keep a 2 year-old engaged in developmentally useful play.

Going online, I figured I'd go right to Amazon.com to see what they might offer from this creative company.  I wasn't disappointed.  I turned up the Quercetti Super Saxoflute, a 24 piece set that allowed a child Alex's age to put the pieces together (and of course later take them apart) to create a musical instrument that might have been designed by Dr. Suess himself.

Quercetti Super Saxoflute
As I mentioned above, the saxoflute consists of 24 pieces of brightly colored ABS plastic in a number of shapes.  A smart design aspect of the toy is that Quercetti included 2 mouthpieces as well as 2 horn ends.  So, Alex could design an instrument for himself that used all of the pieces or he could share with his sister Sofia and they could both build an interesting and funny horn.

I was impressed with the quality and finish of each of the pieces.  They fit together snugly, but not so much that it might prove frustrating during play.

The set comes in a sturdy box that serves as a carrying case with its own plastic handle.  I like that feature a lot.

Something I didn't think about
These are horns!  These can be loud!  These are going to be used by little kids!  As a dad who suffered through three separate iterations of third grade Recorder Band I probably should have caught on quicker.  When the sets are made to create short horns the sound does indeed resemble that of a recorder.  Honestly, the hairs on the back of my neck stand up straight at the sound.  As more pieces are used, the pitch gets a bit lower and a lot more tolerable to my ears.

Some of the pieces have holes in them.  Cover the hole and your child can alter the sound slightly.  But, of course if the child is only 2 years-old I wouldn't expect too much. 

Alex's Experience
Being a budding tinkerer, Alex enjoys putting together the pieces into funny shapes either by himself, but more likely with his sister or a playmate.  The musical aspect of his creation doesn't seem to interest him for more than a few minutes at a time right now.

Closing Thoughts
The Quercetti Super Saxoflute, while well thought out and designed doesn't seem to engage my grandson for quite the period of the Quercetti Fantacolor Junior Pegboard Set.  Maybe that's just an age related thing.  It does seem like creative fun, but be prepared for some occasional ear-splitting sound.

Quick Link:  Quercetti Fantacolor Junior Pegboard Set 

Rudi

Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 14
Type of Toy: Educational
Age Range of Child: 12 to 36 Months