Doh! Why didn't I think of that before? (Hasbro Play-Doh)

Member Name: Emily_09

Product:	Hasbro Play-Doh
Date:	02/11/09 (19 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Keeps kids amused, cheap

Disadvantages: Messy

Last weekend, I came home from university only to be told that my mum had volunteered me to look after my five year old cousin for the day. My heart sank when I looked out of the window and, seeing the rain lashing down, the sudden panic of 'What an earth is he going to do all day?!' set in. Grabbing my umbrella, I legged it to our local Tesco, ready to buy anything that might remotely amuse a five year old.

After stressing further about the fact that I had no idea what my cousin was in to, suddenly I saw the answer. A shining crate of yellow pots in front of me- Play-Doh! As a child, Play-Doh was always something that I loved playing with, making models with the different colours and then mashing them all up and starting again. Another great thing about Playdoh is that it is a unisex toy and can be enjoyed by both boys and girls.

I bought 4 tubs of the stuff, red,green,orange and blue. Each pot was only 77p which I thought was a good price considering it would hopefully provide hours of entertainment.

If you've never come across Play-doh before, it's basically just a coloured lump of dough like material that can be moulded into shapes. All I can say about the texture is that it's very squidgy but thick enough to be able to mould easily. The colours are vibrant and bright, making them perfect for young children as they could even be used to teach them about colours.

The pots are plastic so won't smash or break easily, making them child friendly. They are topped with a plastic lid to keep the Play-doh from drying out. When opening for the first time, the pots can be a bit difficult to open and I had to loosen the lid before finally being able to take it off.
The product is suitable for children over 2 years old simply due to the fact that really young children can choke on the 'doh'. Older children should still be supervised when playing with this product however as they may still put it in their mouths.


One of the most distinctive things about Play-doh is its smell. Each lump of 'doh' is fragranced with 'Eau de Play-doh' a smell that can't be described unless you smell it but in my opinion is very pleasant and reminds me of my childhood.

A negative side of this toy that I will always remember from being a child is that if the Play-doh colours are mixed they form an inseparable bond that can never be broken. I will always remember trying in vain to extract green splodges from the pink 'doh' to no avail. With this in mind, unless you want to spend hours in frustration building multicoloured models I wouldn't recommend mixing the Play-doh. On the other hand, forget this idea if you have children under the age of 10, lets face it, there's no way that Play-doh can stay in prime condition in the hands of a five year old!

Another negative to this toy is that it is very messy! I remember the look of horror on my mum's face every time that someone bought me a new set of Play-doh. You could practically see the dread forming in her mind at the thought of the squidgy stuff getting squished into her new cream carpet. The playdoh in itself isn't that messy and doesn't mess up your hands. Tiny bits always seem to flake off, however and these can get trodden into places making them really hard to remove.

There are a couple of negatives about Play-doh, namely concerning how children play with it, i.e. whether they play nicely (unlikely) or whether they go on a chaos causing Play-doh rampage. Overall, however it really is a great toy and can give your children hours of funny for a great price. My cousin loved the pots I bought him by the way and Play-doh was definitely my saviour on that rainy day!

Summary: 4 stars