Step2 Naturally Playful Sand & Water Center

Below I'm going to cut and paste my first review of this toy, one I posted almost 3 years ago. My five stars still hold true although I have had some leg weakness since then (but we've owned the toy 6 years now and I've got three bigger kids--7, 5, 3--leaning on it in every direction as well as an 80 lb. labrador retriever who has taken to standing in it to look over the fence, ahem...anyway). I am about to rescrew new holes in each leg and the table and fill the legs with stand to make it stable again but it is completely worth it given the joy it has brought my children. The water cover is still 100% effective and the toy still looks practically brand new. I have bought one more new umbrella since my last review. So, that's two new umbrellas and some leg maintenance in 6 years. Not bad. I'm determined to keep it because it is a great place for us to do lots of messy science experiments and activities, as listed below, that are best kept outdoors.

Old Review from May... Read more

One question you need to ask is do you want one side sand and one side water, or do you want two sides with mud? You should decide otherwise your kids will decide for you.

Seriously though, we have a 1, 3, and 5 year old and all three enjoy this. I'd say that ~8 years might be the upper limit at which point kids might start to get bored...

UPDATE: I'd still stick with ~8 years as the upper limit, ours are now 3, 5, and 8 and it's clearly the younger two that enjoy this the most. We're not on about our 5th year with this....

I'd recommend not filling the sand side up all the way as the kids enjoy it just as much with only an inch or less of sand. Also you end up buying sand less often this way - it seems universal that they DO NOT want to keep the sand on the table.

Note that there is a water drain ONLY on the "wet" side so you may have to bail the "sand" side out when they start moving the water around.

It came with a few... Read more

I purchased this even after the reviews about leaks in the legs. The design really is a bit silly as there is no reason to have holes for the legs as you screw them in via the side. We put it together and it leaked, I took it apart purchased some sealant at my local hardware store and reassembled. No more leaks and my little girl (16 months) loves this table. We only put water in both sides as that's entertainment enough for her. We live in Texas and I'm afraid of snakes and bugs getting in, so once she's ready for sand the fact that it's not on the ground and has a cover will help. I can see how it would be a little heavy with sand if you need to constantly move it but overall it's a great product. If we didn't have to use sealant to get it to stop leaking I would have given it 4 stars.