Buying Aqua Sand Creation Kit - Mermaid

An outdoor activity

My 6 year old daughter got this for her birthday and it was the first toy she wanted to play with. She was definitely sold by the commercial and so was my son.

Instructions were not clear. I was a little dumfounded by the long spout and the bottles of sand. I knew the spout went on the bottle, but how? Well, the cap on the bottle snaps off. That leaves what looks like a short spout. In fact, that short spout serves as a funnel for when I need to pour everything back into the bottle. What I needed to do was unscrew that short spout and then screw the long spout on. Didn’t know that short spout unscrewed, which threw me off.

Fill the clear tub with water, put the arch inside, dip the long spout into the water and squeeze the sand out. Sometimes, the kids would pull the spout out of the water and the sand would fall everywhere. It’s messy.

The kids were not excited about scooping the sand out to put it away, which was fine with me, because it would have been a disaster.

To get the sand back in, use the short spout as a funnel and the provided strainer. It goes back in dry, which is pretty neat, but all the colors are mixed together. If the kids do it, expect a large mess.

This is a fun once in awhile outdoor activity. It’s just much too messy for indoors. The sand is very fine and gets everywhere. Putting the sand back into the bottles is tedious, not something I want to do regularly.
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No worse than Play-Dough

My daughters saw this on TV and really wanted this for their 5th birthday. I remember playing with Magic Sand as a child and really enjoyed it, so I figured what the heck. So, after reading the other reviews, here are some things you might want to know about our experiences.

NOTE: This is not a toy I would let my kids use unsupervised. They needed help filling the container with water, moving the nozzle from one bottle of sand to another, etc.

1. The container for the Mermaid is very small, but it is also filled with water, so any bigger and I would be worried it would make a huge mess if it got tipped over.

2. This is sand they are playing with, so sand did get all over. I had them play on a dishtowel, but there was sand on the floor and the table when they were done. Play-Dough leaves the same amount of mess everywhere too. I used the DustBuster when we were done.

3. If you are going to let them use more than 1 color at a time, it is going to get all mixed up. Just like Play-Dough gets mixed up if you use more than 1 color. You just have accept that it is going to get mixed together and move on.

4. It is hard to control the nozzles without practice, but the girls got better as they played with it. It is fun to make decorations underwater and poke the sand around. They did not mind that they weren’t good at it the first time, they wanted to try it again and again.

5. Some of the sand does float around on the top of the water and it can be hard scoop it up. We noticed that playing with sand in a plastic container, like the mermaid tank, was easier than it was in a glass container. The sand “stuck” to the sides of the plastic container, making it easier to clean up the sand that was floating on top. I seemed to care more about the sand floating than my girls did.

6. Getting the sand back in the bottles while playing required my help. The funnels that come with the toy are really small, so it was difficult for my girls to get the sand back in the container on their own without it going all over the table. So, instead I used our kitchen funnel which was much easier for all of us to use.

7. When it was time to put it away, I put a paper towel in the bottom of my kitchen colander and emptied the container into the colander. The paper towel held the sand and the water went down the drain. Then I just poured the sand into the containers again using my kitchen funnel. It was pretty easy to clean up since I wasn’t concerned about the colors being mixed.

All and all, they had fun and we will use it again soon.
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Misleading product - big mess

Very misleading, very messy, colors impossible keep separated, very small. I am also concerned if that is for sure healthy product for kids… I regret I bought it. After play with this my son went to play to bathtub… way more fun… I feel cheated by this product.
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Discount Aqua Sand Creation Kit - Mermaid

great value for money

My daughter loves this product so much. You get really good control over the sand if you put the bottle into position at the bottom of the tank before you squeeze it. And - the long nozzles are great for towers. I’ve had to start buying it as gifts for friends/cousins because they all get so excited when they come round to play. I’d recommend it definately
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Buying Funny Face Beakers

It’s not our favorite but it’s fun for the money

This bath toy is fun. My 18 month old really likes it (in and out of the tub)
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not quiet what I wanted

I was hoping for a bath cup that would slowly let out water or do it in different ways. Well, they do it in different ways, but the holes are so big in all but one that the water is gone quickly. They are fun for my 14 month old for a little while, but then he moves on to other bath toys, or just the cup I have in the tub. If the holes were smaller, it would be great. Also, the yellow one has a whole in the bottom, so the hole for the mouth is useless because by the time you get it filled and turned to pour out, most of the water has gone out the bottom.

Actually, thinking about it, they may work really well in a sand box with dry sand.
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Very cute

My 17 month old really likes these. The only complaint is that the drain holes are too big so the water comes out a too fast.
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we all love these

What kid doesn’t like a cup in the tub. Mine does! So I finally got him these. He plays and plays with them.
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Good idea, but kids were bored

Because of the picture, I assumed (wrongly) that there were suction cups on the back of the cups to make them stick to the side of the tub…that way, the water would flow from each cup to the next. However, they are only hand held toys. My kids, 1 and 4, liked the cups that have lots of holes for a little while because they looked like a shower coming down, but they only played with them for about two or three bath sessions before they were completely bored with them. I thought this was a great idea, but the manufacturer just stopped short of entertaining my kids.
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Buying LEGO Star Wars Set #8092 Luke’s Landspeeder

Awesome

(dictated by Emily’s eight year old brother)

This Lego set is awesome. You have got to buy it. It stays together well and it’s lots of fun. I think Luke Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kanobi are cool.
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Cheap LEGO Star Wars Set #8092 Luke’s Landspeeder

The prices here make no sense.

It seems that sellers feel like they can charge what ever they want for lego items. As suggested, you can find this item at Lego dot com for twenty five dollars. Its to bad that lego com does not list items forsale here, because the prices would be at list and not what these sellers are charging.
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The good things

Clone commander
Clone gunner
Clone troopers
Short blasters
Commander gear
Commander pistols
Walker

The bad things

Stickers
Flick-missiles
No blaster rifles
No controls in the walker

Over all, I highly recommend this set.

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