I purchased this for a 5 year old for his birthday. He was very excited to play with it and played with it for almost the entire night. Then we had to pick it up and carry it upstairs to his bedroom and the sides fell off. Well....I thought I guess we need to be careful with this toy. I set it on top of a small shelf so that he could play with it in a way that he wouldn't have to move it, but then he couldn't get to the back part of the barn, so he picked it up and set it on the floor (he did not hammer on it or play roughly with it....he just moved it!) and the roof popped off. It is not that hard for me to put it back together (a little time consuming, yes, but not hard), but it is not very easy for a five year old to put back together. Now it is dismantled and stored in a toy drawer and it doesn't get played with very much because it has to be put back together. Also, if you are unfortunate enough to misplace a few of the little pegs that hold this together (because it keeps falling apart when you try to move it and you get tired of putting it back together and hunting for little pegs, and you decide to just store it in pieces) then you will have a hard time ever getting it back together again.
The little people and the animals and tools are still enjoyed.
If I had it to do over I would not buy the barn. I would just buy a kit with people and some other little extras. I am disappointed in the price I paid vs. the amount of time this toy is being played with. The quality of the pieces is very good, but if you have to keep putting the pieces back together, then the quality is not as important.