Anyone have a sand and water table?

TriciaChick

I am thinking about getting one for my 2 year old.  I was just wondering if the sand and water mixture gets horribly messy?  Do you have to replace the sand a lot if it gets wet?  Do you think just using it as a water table is a better bet?  TIA!!

wellfleet04

We have one, and yes, it is a water and mud table.  Kate likes the wet sand better for building things, so we just leave it wet when we cover it up.  But, short answer, yes, it is a big mess.  I don't care about the mess, but if you do, I'd just get a sand OR water table not a combo.

dnagal

DD loves it, and mixing up the water and the sand is part of the fun.  When it gets too mixed up, I drain the water and let it dry and scoop the sand back to the sand side.  The sand should probably be replaced once a season (we have the step 2 table and it takes 1 bag of play sand) and might need to be "topped off" periodically depending on how much she thows the sand around.  Plus, if I'm not in the mood to let her get wet (eg-too cold out) then I don't put any water in it and she just plays with the sand.

SLPgirl

The sand immediately goes into the water and it makes a huge mess. If I had to do it over again I'd get a sandbox plus a seperate water only table. Mine also love the baby pool and an $8 sprinkler.

DevonPow

I just got one for DS and he LOVES it. This is a kid who cannot play independently at all, but he is occupied with his  table for up to 20 minutes at a time.

We keep our on our balcony, so it isn't the easiest place to hose down/clean. I do either all water or all sand (or rice, etc) so it doesn;t get too messy, and I empty it after each use. If I kept it in the backyard I would probably  do sand and water together since I could just hose it away when he made a mess.

TriciaChick

The problem is that we have a condo and no yard to put it in so we would have it on our balcony....that is the only reason i worry about the mess..Thanks for the replies!!

joseysbride

We have one, and use it for sand only.  I found I wasn't letting her play with it much when it was sand and water because it was a huge pain to get her ready to deal with the water and then clean up afterward.

I have recently seen this awesome water table sold at Costco that has a water faucet on it.  I think my dd would love that.

goldenprincess

It's a horrible mess.  We got so tired of constantly cleaning it up and chnaging the sand that now we just use it as a water table instead.

annak23

We only use it as a sand table.  We have a kiddie pool that we will put out once it gets warmer out.  I just have images of her getting soaked or muddy everytime she goes out to play with it if I were to put water in it as well.

mommy_of_2

We opted to just get the water table because I do not like the idea of sand and water being that close together. My two little ones would make a terrible mess! They LOVE their water table though.