My son received this drum as a gift when he was 9 months old. He's 3 years old now, and still loves it. It's the only battery powered toy that we actually like, and the calypso-style music is enjoyable instead of irritating. In spite of heavy use, it doesn't use too many batteries (I think we've only changed them once or twice in all this time), and it takes real abuse (it's been dropped more times than I can count). Every few months my son invents a new way to play with it. At nine months he liked to hit it to make sounds. Now he turns on the music for "exercise" (jumping around the living room). Great toy