A Review of Step 2's Octopus Spinner Water Table: Perfect for Outdoor Fun!

In a previous post (HERE), I told the story about Froot Loop and the Great Bathroom Disaster and us buying a water table so he could play with water OUTSIDE in an acceptable manner. 

It’s the Step 2 Octopus Spinner Water Table. It has everything we wanted in a water table, nothing more, nothing less. It allows for free play and has a great setup. 

It was very easy to put together. The legs snap in, the tower snaps together, and the plug sort of snaps in place. A minor complaint about it is that I thought I had it in there really well, but after we put water in it, it was leaking. I had to remove the plug and re insert it, but then it was fine and it hasn't so much as leaked a drop. Another minor complaint is that the funnel does not stay attached to the tower, so it ends up getting thrown around or blown off. Or, it turns into a hat, which is pretty funny. 

Froot Loop LOVES it. He was very excited to see it and we immediately filled it with water. It holds a few gallons of water (4 Snoopy trashcans full, to be exact… but I’m not sure what exactly that means!), so it’s easy enough to fill and dump out every day. I water my plants with it. 

It’s tall enough for Froot Loop to play comfortably and there’s enough for him to do. Really, all he wants to do is fill cups and dump them out, so that’s all I really needed. The tower feature is a lot of fun for him too and he loves making the wheel spin around. He also likes making a whirlpool with the spinning octopus. 

After he played with it himself for awhile, we let Cocoa Puff play with it too. He’s not quite 11 months old, but he’s very tall for his age. He’s also able to stand comfortably with his hands in/on the water table. He was quite happy holding on with one hand and splashing or holding a cup or fish with the other. He enjoyed watching his brother be silly with the water. I loved how they were able to play together with more than enough room. 

This morning, I decided to add a few extra elements to the water play. I added some water beads to the table.

Those water beads are amazing. I enjoyed playing with them too. Most of them were perfect, but a few of them were deformed or split apart. Plus, Froot Loop figured out how to break them, so I had to throw a lot of them away. If you do not already own these water beads, get some today. Seriously. They are fantastic sensory play and are just plain fun. Froot Loop enjoyed scooping them with the cups, putting them on the octopus, and picking them up with his hands. They feel squishy and awesome! We tried to put them on the water wheel, but they got stuck. 

I took out all the water beads so Cocoa Puff could play, and instead added these fun boats that we had gotten 

They’re fun because they have counting numbers, different colors, and they all either stack or connect like a train! They’re perfect for little hands in the water and they float great. 

Then, we put a few other things in the table. We put these torpedos that used to go in our bathtub into the kiddie pool and Froot Loop wanted to play with them in the water table.

They’re a good addition because they sink and he has to find them. They would be extra awesome in there with the water beads because the water beads could cover the torpedos and you’d have to dig for them!

We also put some stacking bath cups in there for Cocoa Puff. 

He loves playing with these in the bathtub, so I wanted to see what he’d do with them in the water table. I think he had even more fun with them outside, so I think I’ll leave them in the kiddie pool/water table toys stash. 

So all in all, I think this water table was the best thing I could have done. We have not had any more water incidents. Froot Loop actually ate his breakfast quickly this morning because he wanted to go outside to play with the water table and we wouldn’t let him until after he ate. 

The only complaints I have are that the funnel doesn’t stay on, the tower falls off, and the plus was pretty difficult to get in correctly. 

I’m looking forward to watching my kids play together with this toy this summer! 

What sort of summertime toys do you have?