My little guy - 7 years old - got this for last Christmas from Santa. On they day after Christmas when we had a good snowfall, he spent 45 minutes making an enormous pile of snowballs, stacking them up and generally entertaining himself, outside in the air and sun. It makes perfect, round snowballs that come easily out of the mold and retain their shape (with the right kind of snow of course!)IN the summer we took it to the beach! slightly less effective at creating perfect balls to pick up and throw - sand being heavier than snow, but still a great deal of fun. Buy it, you won't regret it.