I've had this for a couple years now. My son likes it a lot. I'm not crazy about it.
There is no way to keep the sand and water separate I realize that's a "no duh" thing but there really is no point to having a divided table. The whole table will be soupy wet sand in no time. Even if you have a very careful child the sand and water will get mixed up when they pour sand/water through the funnels. The wet sand is a mess and it takes awhile to dry out. I just put sand in both sides and I don't intentionally add water.
The cover is not waterproof. When it rains, the table gets an inch or so of water in it and the cover protects the rainwater from sun... so the water just sits in there. Heating up. In the dark. With dead bugs in it. There are drain plugs on the bottom of the table, but they are under the sand. If there is a lot of standing water I tip the table over to dump out the water (and a bunch of sand). Word of warning: I sewed a layer of vinyl underneath it. Don't do that, the moisture trapped between the two layers isn't a good thing. Eventually the cover blew away (I'd put it under one of the legs while the sand was drying out). Now I just keep the table in a sunny spot on the porch and it is usually dry (has some debris mixed in, but it's dry).
The cover does not protect the table from insects. They can get in from the sides, and there is also a big hole in the center of the table (like for an umbrella).
Don't put gravel in the table. I bought a bag of sandbox sand thinking "sand is sand". The chunks were too big to go through the funnels and the trays were a muddy mess.
Sand in the table isn't great either. I cleaned out the gravel and bought a bag of play sand (very fine, neon colored) that works with the funnels, but it also clogs up the moving parts. The wheels on the cars don't turn, the spinners don't spin, the tippy thing is jammed.
Rice works okay (had the table indoors for awhile), but then you can't use water.
Water-only provides optimal performance, but then you don't have a sandbox. If you don't have a bathtub or room for a kiddy pool this table would be great for playing in the water.
My son still likes the table a lot. Compared to a regular sandbox it's smaller, and it's raised. So it can sit in the corner of a small porch, it's pretty easy to move around, you don't have to buy as much sand (I bought a couple bags, used half a bag to fill the table and so I have plenty of extra sand to replace/restore), and your kid(s) won't be sitting in a pile of sand (although they can still dump it on themselves). My son likes the funnels and cars, and moving sand from one side to the other.
My 5 year old and 18 month old play with this toy daily.I have only sand in it, but when it warms up, I will take sand out and put water only.I don't like the mess of sand and water.They have made a sand soup and it didn't impress me.If you don't mind to clean up a little sand here and there. You can relax and watch your kids play at least 20-30 minutes every day.Two to 3 kids can play together. It doesn't take much space, cover is vey secure.
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My 2 year old loves, loves, loves this toy. He will get lost in play for hours it seems. I love that he has the opportunity to play with sand without having to sit in it. He loves to play with water and it is simple to refill time and time again. My only 2 complaints are that the sand doesn't seem to pour through the spouts. They always get clogged. Also, I wish there were an easier way to drain water without having to tip the whole thing over. Right now we are using it as just a water table, the mixing of the sand and water is quite messy and I think we will try it again when he is a bit older. We do plan on switching it occasionally and making it just a sand table for a while.In all I think it is a good purchase and well made and perfect for curious toddlers who love to make messes!
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This water table is absolutely fantastic. We have owned it about a year... got it when my daughter had just turned one, and now she is almost two.She has played with it every single day.There is so much more to this than a normal water table because of the train and train paths and tracks and the 3 funnels with different kinds of water wheels.Of course it also has the two compartments for water and sand (we always just use water) and the sail boats. My daughter loves to fill up the train pieces with little rocks from the nearby flower bed, and she positions the water hose over the funnels to make the water pour down and spin the water wheels.Hope they keep making this particular water table for many years, because it is awesome!
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The Step2 Sand and Water Transportation Station is great fun for our 17 month old granddaughter.She had so much fun playing and splashing her hands in the water and making the water wheels turn.I purchased a child's umbrella from Lowes and placed it in the hole in the center of the table, works great.We are planning on taking it to the beach this summer.The table holds 2 gallons of water on each side and when finished playing, just let the plugs out and the water drains.There is a nice durable cover that comes with it and fits perfect until the next playtime begins.Would highly reccommend this for a 12 month 3 year old to have fun with.
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I like that this house is accessible from all sides as I have four children who all want to play with it at the same time. I also like that the swivel feature is not attached (just a rubber lazy Susan which is placed underneath) as I chose to leave it off.
