im too old to be enjoying this, this much. (2009-01-31)
I found this toy in a local Homegoods store, and was having a blast playing it in the store. I'm so happy to find the same product online because the one in the store had been damaged. It really sounds like an accordion, the air really comes in and out of it and it has to have the air inside of it in order to play the sounds, not your usual childs toy. Oh and i'm 22 years old, and i'm buying it for myself. My niece can play with it when she comes over..MAYBE.

Good Beginner Accordion (2008-03-25)
I play the organ for church, and have always wanted an instrument I could easily carry with me for things like road trips, campouts, and Christmas caroling. After spending money on a guitar only to find out it wasn't really my kind of instrument, I wanted to try an accordion without spending too much on one. This accordion fit the bill perfectly.

First of all, you have to understand going in that this instrument has limitations. Its small size means that it runs out of air real fast when using the bass buttons, making them essentially unusable in my opinion. It is limited to the C major scale, although this is sufficient to play almost any child's song, folk tune, hymn, or carol. It plays different notes depending on whether you are pushing or pulling. This means that sometimes you need to push farther to play the note you want, but are already all the way in. Fortunately, there is a button that lets it "take a breath." However, that always seems to be needed at bad places in the music, although I was able to minimize those problems with practice.

The good thing about the diatonic arrangement is that it makes it much easier to play by ear. It has sufficient range to play almost every song I've tried. I've also found that my fingers don't have to change to different buttons very often. I thought I would miss my thumb, but I don't, because each finger covers two notes, so it's sort of like playing the piano with eight fingers on my right hand. I'll definitely be upgrading when I can afford it, but that is largely due to the amount of fun I have had with this one. My children also enjoy it a lot, although they are too young to actually play it yet.

This accordion arrived with a couple of reeds obviously out of tune to my trained ear, but when I commented on that to other people they hadn't noticed. Overall, it has a very pleasant sound.

well - it's a toy not a miniature instrument (2007-10-15)
I bought this for my 3 year old nephew. It makes noise, but doesn't have enough wind to create a basic song. It's too short. Probably more of a head ache for the parents, though I am not sure. My nephew seemed disappointed that we couldn't at least play some basic nursery rhymes/songs on it. I know I was.

Great accordian "toy" (2007-07-23)
I don't know that this really falls into the category of "toy" because the thing is awesome as a working accordian, albeit a kids version. The sound is great--strong and clear. It comes with tips on how to play the instrument as well as some tunes that are really quite easy to learn and fun to practice. It is educational not only to learn finger placement on the correct keys but to pull and push at the proper times. The only caveat is that it is a little tuff to pull for younger kids. And, there is no numbering on the keys themselves though we just took a Sharpie and wrote them on ours. Bottomline: a great instrument for kids to dabble with and well worth the cost (I'm actually surprised it didn't cost more).

Yikes... buying an accordion? Not so fast.... (2005-12-12)
Buying a kids accordion is probably something your average parent wouldn't even consider; most folks don't like accordion music, and the idea of a kid squeezing and squeezing on one of these things is about as appealing as a hole in the head.

However, most people have misconstrued ideas about what this instrument would sound like. First of all, this is a diatonic accordion, meaning it's tuned to only one key. The buttons make different sounds depending on whether you're pushing or pulling on the bellows. Diatonic accordions are popular in Cajun and Zydeco, Irish Music, Tex-Mex and Conjunto, Gypsy Music, and various other forms of world music. They are not the accordions typically used in polka.

Because of the diatonic setup, your kid can't play a sour note! It's like giving them an 8-note wide section of a piano, with no black keys. Sure, if they try, they'll still be able to drive you nuts with this thing, but most likely, they'll enjoy trying to pick out songs. Buy them a Cajun or Zydeco CD to go along with it (try Buckwheat Zydeco's kids album: Choo Choo Boogaloo) and hopefully they'll be inspired and want to play real music on it.