Please buy this drum set for your 3 to 8 year-old! Other beginner kits are either too big or aren't made well and sound bad.
Signed, a drum teacher of 20 years/Berklee College of Music grad.

Our 2-year-old wanted drums for his third birthday, and we purchased this set. It's now his obsession. The sound quality of the drums is great for the price range. Some things to note if you're not a musician / drumming parent:
1) Be patient with the set-up as the instructions aren't good for a novice. There are several videos online you can search for that will guide you through set-up. This is the primary reason for the 4 stars out of five. An intro kit, or intro "any-product", should truly be paint by numbers when it comes to the instructions. Again though, don't let this be the limiting factor with a decision to purchase as the other qualities outweigh the lacking instructions which can be easily resolved with an online search.
2) If your child commits to this drum set and subsequently developing their ear, then the one of first things you'll notice the cymbal quality lags relative to the drum sound. It's great "out of the box" to get you started, but the first items we upgraded and expanded were the cymbals as our little drummer started noticing distinct sound qualities from drum videos and songs that he wasn't getting from his kit that were primarily related to the cymbals.

All in all, this PDP JR kit is a great way to introduce your child to music / drums. It's now literally the first and last thing our three year old does every day. One small bit of advice that's not kit related -- If you're introducing your child to any drum kit, please make sure you also introduce them to some hearing protection during the same time.

Excellent 'junior' set for younger kids. My point of view is from 20+ years of drumming.

The good:
- Hardware is basically 'adult' quality. No cheap-to-pump-it-out-the-door parts. This stuff holds together!!! The kids' previous set (First Act) kept falling apart EVERY DAY from their playing (and it wasn't abusive play!).
- Appropriately sized for the budding drummer. My son is a few months shy of six years old and it fits him very well. My daughter is a few months shy of four and it fits her very well also.
- It got the kids off of my drum set so we're not jostling for play time!
- It's just like Dad's (I added some 'Premier' stickers so it looks like another brand)

The bad:
- A few pieces of hardware are below par for the set: hi-hat clutch kept unscrewing itself (I've since replaced with a regular 'adult' one...fits fine and was cheap); bass pedal might not be ok by 'pro' drummer standards but I don't have any complaints...good enough for me to jam on his set.
- Cymbals are lousy lousy lousy! But, to have good cymbals would literally double the price of the set. The metal is so thin they visibly deform, eventually flipping themselves inside out. Find some name-brand cymbals on your local craigslist to replace these. (These hi-hats are 10", so I ended up buying new ones since it's a rare size). BUT...the crash cymbal actually makes a GOOD 'china' sound when it's flipped inside out! We're keeping it that way.

Summation - if you want to develop a REAL drummer, whose body knows where drums and cymbals sit on an adult set, and can use two foot pedals...this is the one. All other kid sets (except the Ludwig Junior) do not allow the various pieces to be situated at the "correct" locations for the kids to train their body and brain in a way that won't have to be relearned later on a full size set.

Our son loves this set. He is able to go wild on the drums with no problems! My husband had no trouble putting everything together. We were impressed with the quality considering the price - definitely worth it.

I googled, GIFTS FOR 11 YEAR OLD BOYS, this item was on the list. It should be removed, this is TOO SMALL for an 11 year old child. Drum Throne is only 12" tall. Very disappointed! Paid to have set assembled, got authorization to return the set but disassembling and repacking was impossible. End result I wasted $329.00. Bottom line, it's a good quality set for a child from age 2 through 7.