Having been on the look out for a water table for a while, I finally gave in and purchased the Little Tikes Anchors Away Pirate Ship Water Table. It’s beautifully sunny outside, the pirate ship is up and kids have been let loose on it. Want to know what we think so far? Here’s our review of this classic water table.
What Is The Little Tikes Anchors Away Pirate Ship Water Table?
It’s pretty much as the name suggests; a pirate ship themed water play table aimed at ages 2 to 6 years. Simply assemble it together, fill with a couple of buckets of water and your children can have plenty of splashy fun! Around the pirate theme there’s a water cannon that squirts water, a mast that you can pump water up through, a couple of different buckets, an anchor, boats and a couple of pirates to play with, there’s even a shark water squirter!
Getting Started
Like most toys, there is an element of assembly required. The water table comes in a colour box with big images on the outside, so watch out if you don’t want your little ones to see it. Inside is the main ship shaped body of the table, three legs and various attachments and toys.
To assemble, slot the legs in to place, insert the plug and pop all of the additional pieces into place. You will need a phillips head screwdriver (cross shaped!) and a pair of pliers. Assembly is really simple, with the hardest part being putting in the plug at the bottom of the table; this took us far too long until we gave in and grabbed the pliers – I’m not really sure how you would manage it otherwise! Once this is in, slot the legs in to place. You’re advised to screw them in but we’ve found it sturdy enough without and it’s easier to store with them removed. You’ll need to screw down the anchor attachment and the water cannon, but this is simple to do.
It took us ten minutes to get the Anchors Away Pirate Ship assembled; that was two adults with two small, very excitable children ‘helping’. I’d imagine without that ‘help’ it would be far faster… but would it be as fun?!
Related Post: Tuff Tray Fun – Farmyard
What’s It Really Like?
Once set up the Little Tikes Pirate Ship Water Table is good, clean fun. As expected, the biggest draw is the water cannon where you push a button to blast a spray of water across the ship. It’s a little temperamental to get working, the best way is to fully immerse it in water to fill the system before clicking it back into place. Once we’d done this, it worked perfectly! The characters are good fun and the perfect size for little hands to grasp and move around the pirate ship. We’ve walked the plank, created whirl pools with the water spinners and done look outs from the birds nest whilst pumping water up it to see the spinners go wild.
It’s a big piece of plastic to go in your garden but it’s substantial. Like most Little Tikes products, it may be plastic but it’s built to last and I know that once we outgrow it, it will go on to another home. Not that I see us outgrowing it that quickly. Whilst the age recommendation for the Anchors Away Pirate Ship is from two to six years of age, the realities of this are quite different. I’d say it’s suitable from one year upwards, given the level of excitement from our youngest. It’s fairly simple in design so I’m not sure it would keep the attention of them from around four years of age onward; our three year old loves it but if he were much older I think it would quickly be outgrown.
What Do We Love?
The imaginative element of this water table is my favourite part. Whilst there are plenty of cheaper water tables around, the Anchors Away Pirate Ship is certainly the most appealing to our three year old pirate enthusiast. I love that there’s water fun to be had in-keeping with that theme; the way that they can push the button to activate the cannon or to pump water up through the mast to make a water fountain. Everything is easy to use and intuitive. The parts are brightly coloured and capture their attention without being overly gaudy or in your face – it looks cute stood in the garden and it keeps them busy… win win!
What Could Be Better?
The pirate ship is good, but it’s expensive; retailing at around £80. We purchased ours half price on Amazon thanks to a special offer and I’d say it’s good value at that. Is it worth the money at £80? Probably not. There are quirks on it that could be better; the mast/water fountain is a great idea but in reality ours leans to the side a little and fails to make too much impact. The water cannon was a disappointment at the start but once we’d worked out how to fill it up initially, it’s pulled it back and is without question the most popular part. Finally, it could do with a cover or something to put over it in between uses. It’s fairly large and will quickly fill with leaves and mess; we’ll probably end up covering ours with a tarp between uses before packing it away mid-Autumn for the rest of the year.
Would We Recommend The Little Tikes Anchors Away Pirate Ship?
At full price I would struggle to justify this purchase, even though it’s been hugely popular with both children. I can certainly see it lasting us some years between the two of them and know that, when well looked after, Little Tikes products have a great re-sell value on buy and sell sites. Would I recommend it when it’s on an offer? Yes, I think so. It’s nice to have something that both children can play with in the shade of the garden that requires minimal input from me. It bought a couple of hours of peace at various points over the weekend and really.. can you put a value on that as a parent?! Peace aside it’s lovely to be able to see them interacting together with different parts of the water table; the baby with splashing and the toddler with the more imaginative play. They couldn’t wait to get out there again this morning which speaks volumes for how popular it is!
We purchased our Little Tikes Anchors Away Pirate Ship Water Table from Amazon – keep an eye out for deals as they often pop up and make it better value for money!
No Comments