About Play-Doh
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Play-Doh is a modelling compound that has been around since the mid 1950's and is composed of water, salt, boric acid and mineral oil. The product can be used for a large range of art and craft projects at home or in the school. The product was first manufactured as a wallpaper cleaner in the 1930's, which is when a class of school children began using the wallpaper cleaner as a modelling compound. It was then in the 1950's that the product was reworked and marketed to school in the mid 1950's. Advertisements for the product were shown on TV in 1957 which boosted the product sales. Since Play-Doh was launched in the mid-1950's it has generated a large amount of ancillary merchandise such as The Fun Factory. The good thing about Play-Doh is that it's non-toxic, non-staining and is reusable so long as it's kept in their air tight tubs. Play-Doh can be squashed, mashed and rolled to create a number of different hand moulded items such as animals, flowers and other objects. It comes in a large range of different colours and pack sizes, and you can also purchase accessories to go with the Play-Doh as well to help you be even more creative. Me & my sister used to have a range of different coloured tubs of Play-Doh when we were children and we had a small range of accessories such as rolling pins and shaped cutters to make lots of different moulded shapes. Since me and my sister were children they have added so many Play-Doh colours and accessories to the range. The Play Doh now comes in main colours such as red, green, blue, yellow, orange, pink, purple and more, but you can also purchase pastel, fluorescent and pearlescent colours as well. I love the fluorescent colours which are really bright and the pearlescent colours which have a slight hint of glitter in them. The Play-Doh is suitable for children aged 3 years and over, but I recommend adult supervision when young children are using this product.

Price/Availability
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The Super Rainbow pack cost me £9.99 from Argos which I thought was fantastic value for money. You can purchase various different sized packs of Play-Doh from various toy shops and shops such as Argos. I have taken the following prices from Argos but you may find these sized packs cheaper elsewhere.

* Pack of 4 Play-Doh Tubs - £3.99
* Pack of 8 Play-Doh Tubs - £5.99
* Super Rainbow Value Pack (Contains 20 colours) - £9.99 (The item I am reviewing)

You can use the Play-Doh with various different products, some examples of these are below:

* Play-Doh Cake Making Station
* Play-Doh Drill & Fill Play set
* Play-Doh Magic Swirl Ice Cream Shoppe
* Play-Doh Candy Cyclone

Using the Play-Doh
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The Play Doh comes in bright yellow plastic tubs which has the Play-Doh logo on the front in a bright red colour. The lid of the tub is also made from plastic and corresponds to the colour of the Play-Doh inside the tub. Although the tubs are made from plastic they are reasonably flexible. This pack has 20 1kg tubs of Play-Doh in.When you open the tub of Play-Doh you will notice a large clump of coloured Play-Doh in the tub which doesn't quite fill the whole of the tub but near enough. The Super Rainbow Pack has fantastic range of 20 brightly coloured Play-Doh tubs to play with and includes Red, Green, Blue, Yellow, Orange, Pink, Purples and more colours. There are different shades of Blue, Green and some of the other colours. With the pack you also get 20 accessories which includes shaped cutters, plastic scissors and something called an EZ Moulder which moulds different shapes. There is also a re-useable play mat which is a great idea. The Play-Doh feels cold when taking it out from the tub the first time but feels smooth and very soft. There is a smell to the Play-Doh which I can't describe but I absolutely love the smell of it and always have done. I always find myself smelling the Play-Doh as I play and mould with it. My nephew loves using different accessories to cut out shapes from the Play-Doh. As the Play-Doh is so soft it rolls out very easily and my nephew can do this himself. He likes using the blue and green colours, whereas I used the brighter colours when playing with him. Me and my nephew can spend a good few hours playing with this product and creating various different things. We have created pretend food and cakes with the Play-Doh.

If you mix the colours of the Play-Doh together you will not be able to separate them so you need to bear this is mind when moulding different objects. Although me and my nephew used various colours we ensure the other colours aren't stuck to the other colour too much so we can pull them apart when we have finished playing with them. The Play-Doh simply squashes back into a ball shape to fit back into the plastic tub it came out from. The plastic tubs keeps the Play-Doh from drying out as once it has dried out you won't be able to use again, so we always ensure all the Play-Doh is put back in their correct tubs with the coloured lids. The Play-Doh isn't messy and can be cleared up quickly and easily. If there are small bits of Play-Doh on the table where we have been playing I get the large ball of Play-Doh and press this on the smaller bits to pick them up. There has been one or two times where the Play-Doh has been trodden into the carpet but if you leave this to dry you can pick the Play-Doh off or use a stiff brush on it and then run the hoover over it to pick the Play-Doh up. If the Play-Doh does get trodden into a carpet do not use water on it, as this will make it worse. Although my nephew plays with the Play-Doh on and off this is a product he enjoys playing with and has done since the age of about 4 years old. When he first started using the Play-Doh we did make sure we supervised him as he had a tendency to lick the Play-Doh but he soon got out of this habit after being told many a times not to do it. We have had this set of Play-Doh for about a year now and it's lasted really well due to keeping the colours in the tubs and ensuring they are sealed properly after use.

The Accessories
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You get over 20 different accessories with the Rainbow pack which includes brightly coloured cutters in the shape of different animals, some plastic cutting tools which are blunt but good enough to cut through the Play-Doh. There is also a type of rolling pin where you can added different sections to, to create different patterns and textures. There is also something called an Ez Moulder where you put the Play-Doh in the top of the tube and then used the plunger to push the Play-Doh down. On the end of the moulder you can choose a shape or pattern and the compressed Play-Doh will have moulded into the pattern or the chosen shape. My nephew loves playing with this and creating the turtle shape. The Play Mat included comes rolled up, so you simply need to unroll and maybe secure the ends to ensure it stays flat for the first few times of using it. The mat is made from a shiny plastic which has lots of different coloured animals on made from Play-Doh, this is great for ideas when playing with the Play-Doh. As the Mat is made from plastic it can be wiped clean with a damp cloth and dried off with some kitchen towel.

Overall Opinion
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I'm really glad that Play-Doh is still available to purchase as me and my sister used to love playing with this for hours when we were children. I think this is a simple yet fantastic product for children to play with as they can be creative and make a range of different shapes and objects. The range of accessories that you get with this pack is fantastic. The accessories are made from brightly coloured plastic so they can be rinsed under the tap if they need cleaning. I think this is a fantastic product and one I still love playing with, when playing with my nephew. My nephew has also had some of the other products in the Play-Doh range such as the Ice Cream Shoppe which makes mini versions of ice cream sundaes. Some of these games and toys are brilliant that go with the Play-Doh but they need to be cleaned well otherwise you get dry Play-Doh stuck to them which does luckily come off easily. The tubs make great storage containers for other items. We use a few of the tubs to store some of my nephew's art items in such as sequins and paper shapes. If you haven't yet introduced Play-Doh to your children then I would highly recommend it as I'm sure they will enjoy playing with it as much as my nephew does. I can't fault this product in anyway, so I'm going to give it the 5 stars it deserves.


(review may also appear on ciao)