A great water-table, a useless sand table. (ELC Blue Table Sand Pit)

Member Name: abbey3007

Product:	ELC Blue Table Sand Pit
Date:	02/11/09 (17 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Well though out design for water play and the lid fits on snuggly keeping everything protected.

Disadvantages: The tray is not wide enough for sand-play and the parts break easily once sand gets caught in them.

I bought this for my twin daughters when they were 18 months old. Initially I just put water in it as I didn't think they were old enough to understand the importance of separating sand and water and this worked well. The 2 sides allow plenty of space for them to play indepdently or side-by-side when they're feeling co-operative. All the parts fit together well and allow for flexiblity in how you attach the water wheels etc together. The girls also didn't get wet from water splashing out as the 'bowl' parts are so deep. However, aged 2 and a bit, I decided to buy some sand - big mistake. The sand does spray out when they pass it through the wheels if there is even a small breeze and it falls through the gaps for you to store the tools in. I also found that although the bowls weren't wide enough for children to create anything decent out of sand. And, once they start burying things in the sand, it gets REALLY messy! We also have lots of broken parts to the wheels now as the sand gets stuck between the parts that go together and cause them to snap easily. To summarise - a brilliant water table, a useless sand table. My daughters will only be having water to play with in future!

Summary: Fantastic for water, but not sand!