It seems like a great idea to have sand AND water all in one toy, right? Here's the problem. While the water side does have a drain, it only drains the water out of the main basin. There is another basin (where the water wheel is) that remains filled with water. It is IMPOSSIBLE to get all of the water out of this thing without turning it over, and therefore also dumping out all of the sand on the sand side of the table. You can't leave the water in the table because it gets stagnant and gross and is a mosquito breeding ground. The two sides of the table don't separate, so you can't just take the water side off to dump the water at the end of the day. My solution: I filled up both sides of this table with sand, and plan to buy a separate water table that I can dump ALL of the water out of at the end of the day.
My daughter absolutely loves this table! It keeps her busy in the backyard for hours!
It is really simple to assemble and only requires a Phillips screwdriver. Total assembly time was about 30 minutes. It is also really lightweight, so it wasn't any trouble to carry up and down stairs (to hide it before Easter) and then to move it outside. It is a little cumbersome to move because of the shape, but very easy overall.
I purchased this intending to use it only as a water table, and it works very well for that purpose. Put any two-year old near sand and water and they will just make a big muddy mess. I also believe that it would be difficult to clean out without dumping the sand out.
There were a few reviews saying that the water becomes a stagnant mess after sitting for a while. This would be true in any instance, not because of the design of the toy. I've had a very easy time keeping it clean with almost no effort. After she is done playing I simply open the drain and let the water in that side run out, and then tip the unit on it's side to dump out the rest of the water. Either leave it that way until the next play session or turn it back over and let the sun dry it completely (we live in Arizona so it dries really quickly).
I think it would also work really well as a sand-only table, but we haven't ever tried it with sand. I do like that it is elevated on smooth plastic legs so that I wouldn't have to worry about scorpions (fun, right?!) climbing up and making their home in there if we did use it for sand.
The other sand/water tables on the market all seem to be designed in a similar way, so they all have the same pros and cons.
Overall I'm very pleased with this purchase!
Buy Shady Oasis Sand and Water Play Table Now
We purchased this table for my 11 month old son who LOVES water and splashing.After months of him going after the dog bowl we bought this water table.He LOVES it.I fill both sides up with water as I think the sand would be an issue crossing into the water and he is not yet into sand.The main issue with this table is that the table legs fits so tightly into the sockets that the plastic holdings break.After reading reviews on this table elsewhere it looks to be a universal problem.I hope that the legs hold up.
Three issues need to be addressed by the makers of this table....
1.) the umbrella is too small and due to the material it provides zero shade
2.) there needs to be a plug in both wells for drainage.
3.) the plastic holdings tend to crack when assembling the legs of the table.
While we hope to enjoy this table this summer I am skeptical as to whether it will hold up next year or for another child.
We purchased this table at Walmart where it was $20 cheaper than amazon.
Read Best Reviews of Shady Oasis Sand and Water Play Table Here
About 6 months ago we picked up a couple back-yard play stations for our boy (21 months). One was the Step 2 Shady Oasis Sand and Water Table. He has always loved splashing in the bath and he enjoys pools of shallow water. He also loves playing in sand when we take him to the beach or playing in the sandboxes when we take him to neighborhood parks. Hence, the backyard sand and water table seemed a natural, albiet the scale is entirely different.
The play station was easy to put together and required a Phillips screwdriver and a long-nosed plier. The latter was not specified and I used it only to retrieve screws when I'd drop them when trying to fit them in small confined places my fingers wouldn't fit. In any case, assembly was a quick, easy and simple task. However, you might consider where you want this thing because it's very difficult to move after the water and sand is added.
We've only had the sand and water table a short time so our testing of the toy is probably inadequate. Such is the case with many of his toys. At the present, our boy likes to splash the water, that's for certain. He seems to like the paddle wheels, but hasn't learned how to operate them as yet. The wheel in the tower works quite well, I might add, but the boy doesn't find it terribly interesting.
One major problem with the water part f the play station is keeping it clean. It's not long before the water is cluttered with leaves and other detritus floating in it. The worst contaminant is dead insects and often the water has live insect larvae in it. Regular cleaning and renewing the water is necessary and time consuming,
The sand part of the table is of questionable. Our boy scoops up cups of sand and scatters it on the nearby ground or tosses them into the water. Also, he tosses the cups on the ground. All in all, the sand is just too limited to be of much use.
The umbrella seems to fascinate him. Maybe it's the colors or the patterns, Who knows? But the umbrella is much too small to act as any kind of sun shade.
All in all, I'd now have to rate this play station as ineffective. It has become a backyard piece of junk that receives little attention and presents major clean-up problems. Given the choice, we would not buy it again.
Gary Peterson
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My son loves this toy.
However I purchased this retail brand new for half of what Amazon is charging.
well i must say this journey has been nothing easy but i would recommend this product considering that my son was able to name SOME of the flash cards like apple, ball, cat, dog, the fairly easy ones. He is 4 and has a very limited vocabulary so there are some pretty hard ones but i guess it gives him some to learn as he gets older. overall did this product help my son new words? YES can he identify pictures and relate them to everyday items? YES Reccomeend? YES
