Clicker Crab Hourglass Sifter & Funnel

I love Melissa & Doug toys and have bought them often! This one arrived today, and although it won't work for my original purpose, I still gave it 5 stars because of its obvious quality. Once a week I work in a nursery for children ages 18 months to 3 years, and we needed a new activity that would keep their attention for more than a few minutes. I filled a large, clear rectangular tub with dry beans and various sizes of funnels, scoops, and containers--something akin to an indoor sandbox. Alas, the narrowest point of this plastic hourglass funnel toy only measures 5/8" diameter on the inside (7/8" measuring across the narrowest spot on the outside), and the dry pinto beans would not run smoothly through it. They will go through a few at a time, but putting in a scoop or two caused a bottleneck that stopped the flow. I'll save it for the beach with my grand kids--I'm sure it will work great with dry sand or water. When I first saw the picture, I wondered if there were clear plastic plates inside each half, but that is a reflection you're seeing. It's just open space inside. The blue heavy-plastic hourglass has fish shapes and wavy lines molded on the outside to make it look like the ocean. The sturdy plastic lids on both ends snap on securely but are not too hard for little hands to pull off without help. Kudos to this manufacturer for making toys that actually last!

My daughters both love this toy, one is 2 and the other 6. They enjoy using it at our sand table and the sand box. You can use this with water, dry sand and then wet sand. It seems to do the best for us with dry sand. Wet sand doesn't comes through too easy but you can use one side as a mold. I was hoping it was going to be water tight but it isn't, it will surely leak. My oldest still likes to use it to make "tube tornadoes". Both the lid on the top and bottom come off. Our lids are different in the sense that one comes off easily while the other takes some force. We have had it a couple weeks and on one of the decorated lids (crab) the paint/design seems to be rubbing off a bit. Despite the minor issues, the kids love playing with it. My only regret is that I didn't get two! They do fight over it every once in awhile.. When I ordered this I also bought the Sunny Patch Seaside Sidekicks Sand Cupcake Set, the Seaside Sidekicks Sand Baking Set, the Seaside Sidekicks Sand-Molding Set, and a couple of the Sunny Patch Cultivators. All of the Melissa and Doug toys have been a hit and we can't wait to take them along with us on vacation.

A really cute toy that my 2-year-old great-niece seemed to really like. It's larger than I thought it would be; seems to be made of quality, durable plastic. I am only giving it 3 stars because when we put water in it, it leaked like a sieve around both lids --- and I made sure they were snapped on tight. I was going to return it, but dried it out and put dry sand in it, and it works very well with the sand. The 2-year-old enjoyed turning it over and watching the sand run thru. Only got to watch her reactions for an hour or so when I gave it to her, so can't say anything about enduring appeal.

Best sandbox toy ever! I’m using it in an indoor “ricebox”. Colorful, sturdy, and well designed. He loved the fish embossed into the blue plastic. The top and bottom (look like crabs) both come off so you can use the funnel in a few different ways. I hesitated to spend that much on “just a funnel” but I’m glad I did- it’s been worth it already the first day.

This is a great new addition to our sand toy collection! The kids love it! Pour the sand in, and watch it funnel like a real hourglass. Plus you can just use water and watch it funnel the water, it can be used in a kiddie pool or bath too.Just a tip:It is a durable plastic, but with ANY plastic sand toy, I would suggest always keeping them out of the sun once the kids are done playing with them..After time the sun will end up breaking and cracking the plastic (I learned the hard way with OTHER sand toys)It is a great size too.(Will update with size measurements)

My 3.5 year old loves sand timers so I thought he would really enjoy this and he does, but it could be better. The caps are very difficult for him to get on and off by himself so he needs our assistance. It's not easy for me either. Also it isn't water tight which is too bad. He loves filling it with sand and I think other materials would work too so this will be a good addition to his sensory tubs. In the end he likes it so despite the couple issues it was a good buy for us.

my 18month old absolutely loves this toy in the bath. he loves filling it with water and putting other items in it and watching them bob up and down as the water filters through. also likes talking in to it to make funny sounds it is big as others have said but we find that a bonus - even with his little hands it is not problem to hold etc. he uses the utensils from the M&D seaside baking kit to fill it up etc. Not sure how it will work in the sand - waiting for the weather to warm up to find out.

This being larger makes it super easy for kids to scoop and fill with sand / water....it is fun for water sloshing, hour glass sand and for just filling and dumping....endless possibilities with this large sturdy toy! I usually like stuff but with there was a few changes.....with this one....PERFECT!!!