My daughter received this as a gift on her two year birthday, and so far she absolutely adores it. She has always been attracted to water and splashing so this was a perfect fit for her.
The table arrives in a large, flat box containing several pieces; the table itself, three legs, a three-part plastic "iceberg", a translucent water bucket, and a package of three squeezable rubber animal squirt toys (penguin, polar bear and walrus). A simple instruction sheet shows how it all goes together but it's really not needed. Without so much as a glance at the instructions I was able to fully assemble the table in under a minute. The resulting platform is strong and stable; my daughter easily climbed onto and sat in the (empty) table and there was no indication of stress on any part of it.
One particularly nice thing: Fully assembled, the table easily fits through a typical doorway without the need to tilt or rotate it and without scraping the backs of your hands, making it easy to move the table indoors and out without the need to empty it if you don't want to.
Once set up, you add a couple gallons of water to it and then let the little ones have at it. The toy is entirely child-operated; there are no pumps, cords, batteries, or other automating devices. The child dunks the bucket into the water and places the bucket on top of the iceberg. A hole in the bottom of the bucket releases the water into a chute which creates a small waterfall. The chute is large enough to drop the penguin through but not large enough for the polar bear or walrus, but an "ice cave" goes through the bottom of the iceberg which all three toys can fit through. A larger, deeper reservoir is at the 'front' of the table while a smaller reservoir is at the 'back' of it, and there's a small slide that allows water to go from the smaller to the larger reservoirs. (Refilling the empty smaller reservoir requires manual intervention.)
So far as toys like this goes my daughter and her friends have fun with it. They get a lot of enjoyment just splashing around in the water for extended periods of time. There's no real education value to speak of but toys like this aren't designed for education, so it really doesn't matter. We all look forward to having her play with this when the weather really starts getting hot. I think it will be a much-appreciated toy in the summer months!
The only bad things are nitpick items and are questionable at best. Although the legs secure very snugly onto the table, the iceberg components do not. There are three pieces to the iceberg and each sits upon the other via molded-in plastic pegs. While this does a good job in keeping the pieces aligned to one another it does nothing to secure the pieces in the event of even a small bump, so I found myself fixing the askew iceberg every few minutes. On the other hand, having such a loose fit would ensure that my child's arm doesn't get caught inside of it by accident, so this could be argued either way.
It's also a little annoying that all three animals don't fit in the upper chute. My daughter got very frustrated trying to stuff the polar bear down the chute and eventually gave up. If the polar bear and walrus toys were literally about 5% smaller they would have fit through the chute easily.
I would have liked to see more activities in this playset as well. If you look at competing products you'll find ones with more things to do - hand-operated pumps, water wheels, etc. Outside of the child's imagination and ability to splash (which is a constant on any water table), the entire extent of this toy's interactivity is pouring water down a chute. Compare this to, say, the Little Tikes Island Adventure Water Table or the WaterWheel Play Table which has more moving parts and activities for small hands. I'll know better by the end of the summer, if she's still interested in playing with this. Step2 Arctic Splash Water Table
This is a decent water table, especially because I got it for $24.99 on sale at Target. I think last year's version (the water wheel table, which my husband threw out when we moved, unfortunately) was better.
My main gripe regards the glacier toy. It has three or four pieces that do not "click" in place - they just rest on each other and on the table, so they are easily knocked over and dismantled. Why?? The parts are not intended to be played with individually, so there is no advantage to having them constantly come apart.
The water wheel on the other version is more fun b/c it has moving parts and is visually interesting. The glacier is cute, and makes a little fountain, but my kids aren't that fascinated by it. I'll probably buy a separate water wheel to play with in the table.
My other comment is that the table is pretty low - good for my 18 mo, but my average sized 3 yo is too tall to play well at the table. Other than that, it's a fine water table, for what it is. Not too huge, not heavy at all. Very easy to assemble, and I appreciate the fact that it doesn't use batteries or make annoying noises.
I agree that it would be great if all the animals could slide down the glacier chute. The toys are not well designed at all. - Toddler Toys - Kids Outdoor Toys - Outdoor Toys - Water Play'
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