We've been playing with Sprig's Dolphin Adventure Playset for over a month now, and have formed some opinions about it we'd like to share. Sprig Toys has launched several new products in the last couple of months, and we'll have a review of a couple of the others coming up soon.

The Dolphin Adventure Playset echoes Sprig's first Discover line, which feature USB sticks, kid-powered lights and sounds, and removable handles for toddler pushing. This new twist on outdoor adventure toys feature Sprig's simple figures in increasingly interesting contexts - an archaeologist with live dinosaurs, a mountaineer with a hang glider, or in this case, a marine researcher, animal rescuer, or good old-fashioned adventure naturalist. They could close this loop completely with a set featuring a figure and a movie camera on a tripod - these adventurers should have their own TV shows in Sprigworld.


The round thing behind the porthole is a carry point for a life preserver. Our little guy is feeling cocky today.


The overall look of this toy is a step up in sophistication for Sprig Toys' construction, and the boat is chunky, durable, and solid-feeling. I haven't measured it, but I'd say it's close to a foot long. This, plus the innovative material from which these toys are made - reclaimed plastic and recycled wood - explain its $30 price tag. That's a little high for a bath toy, which is how many parents will fit this into their lives. But for a large boat, figure with accessories (hat and backpack), tender and two dolphin friends, it sounds fair to us, and it's the only floating toy boat we've seen that doesn't look like it belongs only in the bathtub. This is a go-anywhere playset in the classic sense, although your kid will be itching to put it in water at every opportunity.




The big boat floats beautifully, but this little tender has a hard time keeping its balance. We found it difficult to place the figure in this boat without it tipping over.


The dolphins, too, tend to list a little, but this shouldn't bother an active user. If our own daughter's bathtub use of the Dolphin Adventure Playset is any indication, these things will be swimming pretty much constantly.


We always love the way Sprig builds an economy of materials into their toys. It's just another indication that their environmental thinking runs deep within the company.

Overall, the only complaint of substance we have about this set is that the main boat takes on water - not when it's floating, but when it's submerged. Water gets into the hull, will fill it up even, and although it can be drained out by tipping the boat sideways, and although it does not take on any water when it is floating on the water's surface, the fact that water can get inside means that some small amount might stay, and if you are not religious about getting that water out of there between baths, or if you use this actively outside - at the beach, at a lake or pond - you might find it hard to clean. It isn't the first bath toy to take on water, but our favorites are always those that don't, or which can be opened up for cleaning. The build on this boat is a one-way, locked-down design, so there's no getting in there to wipe it down, drain it thoroughly, or otherwise perform kiddie boating maintenance. Those who will be bothered by this know who they are; but overall, this is one of the best functional boats we've seen for preschoolers in a long time.

You can pick up the Dolphin Adventure Playset on Amazon.com.

We received Sprig's Dolphin Adventure Playset from the company. We will be donating it to a local toy drive.