Yeah, let me think about that Bornelund stuff again. When you drop a marble down the gradated color disc-leaves on this eye-popping wooden tree by Swiss toymaker Mario Bulloni [whose company just went out of business, as far as I can tell], each one makes a slightly different plinking sound. The result: a beautiful sculptural toy that creates a magical melody.
OR, how about this: the leaves for this thing don't come out, so the tree just sits there, probably next to the over-designed CD tower that inspired it, playing the same damn "song" over and over. Or at least it would, if your kid hadn't lost the marble in about five minutes. The perfect gift from your super-stylin' friend who has no idea what kids are actually like.
It's probably a little bit of both. It sure looks great, though. The short tree is 6,740 yen. [bornelund.co.jp]
Or put the marble in a bird's mouth, via hearthsong:
http://www.hearthsong.com/hearthsong/product.do?section_id=0&bc=1005&pgc=2188&cmvalue=HS|0|Normal%20Search%20Result|P2
I have this (it was a gift) and the leaves do come out -- which is a pain, because they come out when the marbles hit them. Not only that, its a huge dust collector. We put it away as soon as our baby could crawl.