Whenever my ex boyfriend used to look after his little boy, he'd bring him to mine for a bit and as a result i've accquired a fair amount of children's toys, including the well known play doh. When me and Jack split up, I decided to give away all of the toys (which were pretty rubbish anyway!) that i'd accumalated in my living room, however I did keep a few bits, including the play doh - mainly as there's a lot of kids in my family who I know will use and enjoy it, and even I find it pretty fun to play with whenever i'm bored - I actually find it quite theraputic! Don't get me wrong, I don't sit there playing with play doh on my own, but me and my friends have had a good laugh playing around with it making rude sculptures!

My cousin's two children love play doh too, I babysit once in a blue moon when i'm back down home (every weekend) and Rachel (my cousin) had been saving a few tubs of play doh for a rainy day so left it on the side and I totally forgot about it until Darcy started complaining of being bored. It was raining outside and I didn't feel like doing much, so I decided to let her and Faith play with the play doh. They had so much fun with it! It kept them entertained for atleast an hour, we even played hide and seek where I hid the play doh sculpture and they ran off trying to find it - I think it's the easiest they've been in the entire time i've looked after them! I taught them all the tricks of the trade (I was play doh mad as a kid!) - how to squish it all up and roll it into a ball, as well as making other fun shapes including a really long snake complete with 3D eyes and multicoloured stripes - they were fascinated!

At first, Darcy was very unsure due to the texture of the play doh, but she soon got into it and really enjoyed it in the end. Faith particullary liked the play doh, however a bit too much - she kept trying to eat it! As most people will know play doh is very bright and colourful which is probably why she was drawn to eating it, however I did freak out a bit and took it off her until she promised to behave herself, I am unsure if play doh is actually dangerous (it's non toxic but extremely salty - I remember from when I tried eating it as a kid!) but it's better to be safe than sorry! Play doh also smells quite nice (i'll be honest, I really like the smell!), it has a weird scent which is instantly recogniseable - it is the kind of smell that brings back memories.

Play doh is available in loads of different colours meaning you can make anything. Me and the kids made loads of random shapes including rabbits (which were pink and blue!) , christmas trees, aliens, turtles etc and the kids really loved their little sculptures and were ever so proud of them! It is easy to add detail to play doh shapes and colours by using a cocktail stick (obviously do this yourself rather than letting the kids do it) to make eyes and mouths etc. Play doh has the consistency of soft, light dough, so it is easy to mould into different shapes. Despite the quite thick texture it is easy to break bits off (even the little ones had no trouble doing this) - this is a plus side when creating different sculptures/shapes, but it's a disadvantage when you have a kid who throws stuff around like my ex's kid used to - luckily though my cousin's two girls are well behaved and the mess was minimal. Play doh is made of flour, water, salt, boric acid, and mineral oil.

My cousins kids really enjoyed using this, it kept them entertained and we created some lovely little sculptures together that they were both extremely proud of. I think i'm definetly going to get them one of those play doh factories for christmas to share as they loved it so much. Play doh is quite inexpensive, for 4 large 520 gram tubs from Amazon, it is £3.15 which I think is a reasonable price, however it is quite easy to make and recipes can be found online. Overall, a fun product which keeps kids entertained.