Rainbow Stacker and Shape Sorter

This toy is only about 4 inches tall total, and the stacking pieces do not stay together if you even blow on them! The top red piece is only about 1 inch in diameter with makes it a choking hazard for small children. I fail to see how this can pass safety checks in the USA.

Horrible purchase!!!

My 1 year old daughter received the Haba Rainbow Tower as a gift for her 1st birthday. We have many Haba toys and they are made to the highest quality. We have never had any problems with any of them. However, my daughter nearly choked to death today on the top red piece on the Rainbow Tower. She managed to get the entire piece in her mouth and couldn't get it out. It was wedged in her mouth so tight that I couldn't get my fingers around it to pull it out. Thankfully I got it out in time. I would not recommend this toy for children under the age of 3. We were very lucky today!

UPDATE: While it has been several years, since I posted my initial review of this product there are still a few things I would like to note. A few weeks after I posted my review I was contacted by the Consumer Product Safety Commission. To my surprise an inspector came to my home to investigate my claim and to see the product. The inspector spent about 30 minutes asking me questions, measuring the product and taking photos. In the end my claim was dismissed, because the piece in question did not fit through the Small Objects Choke Tester that the CPSC uses to determine if a product is a choking hazard. However, make no mistake this product easily fits through a toilet paper roll holder, which is what most healthcare professionals tell you to us.

While my claim was disregarded it does look like the CPSC made HABA clarify the age recommendations for this product. Back in 2009, the recommended age for the HABA Rainbow Tower was 6 months and up. That recommendation was posted on both the HABA web site and also on Amazon.com. However, the box that the product came in had the recommended age at 1 ½ 3 years. I can see now that the recommended age online is now 1 ½ years, so I'm happy to see that has been clarified.

I still consider myself very fortunate for getting that piece dislodged from my daughter's mouth. And to this day, I will not let me children play with the top red piece of the Rainbow Tower.

As for the quality of the product and how it's held up over the years ... It's HABA and they do make the best wood toys on the market.

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I like the fact that this is a very natural toy. My 8 month old daughter has been strongly drawn to it for the last 2 months despite many other toys being available. We soon lost the top red block but it is still very usable. The 2 things I'd say is that I thought it was going to be bigger and I thought that it was going to be the kind of toy where they are rings that slip on to a center pole. But it's actually kind of small (but not choke able) and they are full blocks with circular groves that fit in to each other. I also like the fact that you can rearrange the order and it still fits.

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I bought this for my son when he was 9 months. We took away the smallest piece until he was 15 months. At 17 months, it is still one of his favorite toys and it has held up great. The toy is made from smooth, solid hardwood with a water base paint. This means it is totally non-toxic in every way. When he was 9 months, he quickly learned how to stack them according to size and no we discuss the colors as he plays around with all the variations to build. He even has his toy Telly build the tower. I can't say enough about the quality and educational qualities that HABA toys have.

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...and not really in a good way.

I wanted to replace my daughter's Ikea ring stacking toy, which consists of seven rings that you can fit on a red pole.

I didn't read the description carefully enough, I guess, because this is not the same kind of toy. It is much smaller than most stacking towers, first of all (look closely at the size).

In addition, the tower does not consist of doughnut-like rings that can be placed on a pole. Instead, it consists of discs, each of which has a little divot on one side, and a bump on the other, so they fit into one another like that. So, if you are looking for one of those, do not buy this toy!

Finally, my own did not come complete (it was missing a piece) from Moolka for some reason, and I am still trying to obtain my return postage so that I can send it back and get my refund. This is more pertinent to the review of the seller but I think it is worth mentioning here as you don't have a choice of sellers.

That said, I agree with the other reviewer that the quality of the toy is very good, and if you are looking for a small rainbow stacking toy, you will probably like this one.