My son is almost 3 and he LOVES these flutes (he calls them “whistles”).

SOUND: Honestly, the sound is not as annoying as the average recorder or whistle (though the higher pitches become correspondingly, well, shriller).

HOW THEY WORK: The note each of these instruments plays is based on how much water is in the flute, which means that if you’re doing this with a three year old you need to help them carefully fill these flutes to the right level (and you’re probably not going to be playing the included songs right away). I think this is actually great educational value–practice letters with little kids, talk about the relationship between the water level and the sound as the child gets older, including scales, etc.) but if you’re hoping your kid is going to play (“properly”) with this toy on his or her own at 3 or 4, you might be disappointed.

PROBLEM–DRINKING THE BATH WATER: I would actually suggest parents with younger children consider playing with these outside of the bathtub (maybe with a deep bowl of water for filling the flutes?). I say this because if your kid tips the flute back (that is, instead of holding it in “recorder” position, he chooses “trumpet” position) water will pour into his mouth. Since the bath water is not the cleanest, I’m not thrilled about that. Ditto if you’re thinking of using them in a pool. Obviously, it’s good to teach your kids the proper way to hold these instruments, but still, preschool age kids are always going to be tipping them back some of the time, even by accident.

Anyway, in short, I think these are really fun toys, and I’ll definitely be buying them for friends!
Rating: 4 / 5

These are marketed toward younger children, but my 9 yr. old loves them. She’s quite impressed now playing Mary Had a Little Lamb by memory You can keep all the flutes together in the holder or take them apart if you have more than one child.

I will warn that after a while you get sick of hearing the kids playing the same songs over and over and over again, but they’re happy so just wear some earplugs.
Rating: 5 / 5

This is my child’s favorite new bath toy. He is three and easily figured out how to use them and tries every night to “make music”. GREAT bath toy.
Rating: 5 / 5

My daughter loves being in the tub, so naturally, we looked at the Alex products and bought quite a few. The flutes do not stay in the blue foam holder at all, and they slip, so they will not stay at the same level either. My daughter can use the flutes individually, which does not help when you want to do a song. If the holder was a snap-in holder, it would be a better product. My husband is going to try and rig something up.
Rating: 3 / 5

I purchased these for my 3 year old grandkids. They love them in and out of the bath tub. Anything that makes noise and then have the ability to fill with water – what fun. Parents truly love to hear the flute all day long!
Rating: 5 / 5