The Sandbox Children's Museum — Local services in Hilton Head Island

Pros- -Indoor. -Art / Creation space with lots of supplies! Start here if you can so that your creations are dry by the time you leave. -An indoor slide - cool! -Nice selection of dress-up / costumes for creative play. -"Center" approach feels familiar to kids in daycare/ preschool. -The music with pots and pans outside - very clever! Suggest adding another spoon to allow more than one player at a time.

Cons- -It's a bit small and the centers are sized for about 2-3 kids max at a time. I could see this being very crowded but hope the ticket sales would accommodate that. -Adult ticket price is the same as a child.... We know the kids aren't getting in without an adult, and most adults aren't going to play like kids do, so help me understand... -It's more suited for 1 yo to 5 yo crowd. I can't see it holding the attention of kids more than 5 years old for very long. -Kinetic sand was overly dried out. Needs some water added to keep it at the right consistency or needs to be replaced. -Outdoor toys were all put away into bins and kids didn't realize they could pull them out to play with them until an adult (non-employee) pointed it out.

Other comments: For an interactive play-your-way space for kids, the staff was overly concerned with how the children play during our visit and with following "traditional" rules of play. One example...I saw a staff person approach a little girl who had taken a baby doll from one center and into the kitchen center. Th employee told the girl that the baby can't go into the kitchen and the woman took the doll away from her and placed it back into the "designated" space for toddlers. There are so many other child-led ways to approach this situation if the toy did need to be returned to that space ... I was disappointed to see this response. (And really, no one was in the toddler space, so no one was missing...

On a recent trip to Hilton Head, I visited the Tangier Outlet location with my 2 year old daughter and husband. I thought it would be a good "rainy day" excursion.

This location is very rough! Felt dirty, lots of old toys. I was super skeeved out. After five minutes, my husband looked at me and said, "you didn't pay to come here, did you?"

Should mention: they do have a 2 and under section (with a small divider, easily crawled over), but there's hardly anything there to do in there. This smaller area is definitely not toddler engaging, however the main area is super choke central! Lots of easily accessible tiny legos and marbles! From the website, I was under the impression that older kids area was a separate room (this may be true for the other location, or they may have chokable stuff in separate area).

The new location was fully booked and no one picked up phone when I called multiple times the day before and that day so I couldn't confirm if they actually had spots available. We did explore the Adventure Playground right next to the new location and I was so bummed because the new space looks great from the outside. Wish we had been able to visit that location, instead.

The woman who worked at the front desk was lovely and very kind. This location was a bummer though.

I think it's important to make the distinction in reviews between the two locations. When I read previous reviews, some looked great and some not so great. I think this is due to difference...

I don't even know where to begin with my experience here on Fri at noon, I prepaid for my son and I to come and visit. We were the only 2 people there. We were explained the rules they had for their covid procedures, I had to we mask which I understood, and was told to have one on him aswell, the lady explaining me the rules said it would be fine if he couldn't keep it on because he was 2-3 yrs old, not barely talking. So we proceeded, washed our hands and then the lady at the front desk asked us to leave (no option whatsoever) then explained he had to wear a mask, she also told me there was a group coming in 2hrs. We were the only people there. Again told to leave a couple more times and nothing else. I cannot help but think because I am a Latina and have a mixed child of black and Mexican descent, that I was not welcomed, looked down up and talked to very rudely. I then asked for my refund, was told she didn't have printing paper. She refused to give me her name and I asked her if she could write down a paper stating as proof thatshe would refund me. She then decided to actually process my refund online on her phone when I asked several times. I will not return here and it's a shame with everything going on in our country to be talked to and treated differently. I researched your covid procedures prior to coming in, no where on your website states children of 2 yrs old having to keep a mask on whatsoever, much less we were the only 2 customers in...