When a birthday came up for my two girls (they are both within 2 weeks of each other) and I was asked what they would like I was desperate to tell people anything other than toys! They seem to have had or have every toy under the sun and so I figured some new toys for the garden would go down a treat. Nana bought them this Little Tikes Sand and Sea Table and it has been a hit come run or shine!


The table has two separate play areas. One for water and one for sand. It comes with a parasol (which I was pleasantly surprised about), a water wheel and boats and tools. The thing that I particularly like about the table is that it has lids. We had previously had a water table before which didn't have a lid and if it was left out in the rain or not drained after play it would fill with water and go gloopy and not very nice. I was constantly hosing it down and scrubbing it as it didn't fit in the shed, so I like that this one has a lid. It also has doubled up as a table when they first got it and every waking minute was spent playing with it. At lunchtimes they would ask me to put the lid on and sit and eat their lunch off it so the lids are quite a good feature!


The sand area holds up to 23 kg of sand so it is big enough for a few children to play around it at the same time. The age range is 24 months to 6 years which I would say is probably about right, although supervised I would allow children younger than 2 to play with this and it always seems to go down well with our nephew who is around 15 months old and loves splashes his hands in the water. When younger children play with it we just pop the lid on to the sand tray so they don't splash sand in their eyes and as long as we are sat fairly close I feel comfortable with toddlers playing with the water.

The table is sturdy and made from thick plastic as all the Little Tikes products are. They survive outside and we just remove the fabric parasol when not in use to keep it looking new. The bright colours make it a favourite for young children and you certainly can't miss it in the garden! It is a really good height that young ones can reach it, and when my older daughters plays along with it with her younger sister she sits at a chair and plays. An added bonus is the plug to drain the water, believe it or not, not all water tables come with them and the last one we had had to be tipped on its side to drain the water from it, so this is definitely a bonus.

Children will love playing with this sand and water table and it will give them endless hours of fun. The protection from the parasol will give parents peace of mind as the weather warms up (if!).

Expect to pay around £90 for this Little Tikes product.