Looking around for stocking fillers for my daughter was relatively easy, she plays with Play-Doh a lot and I know you can get some quite cheap bits to help encourage her arty side. I spotted this little device relatively cheaply and Lily had played with it at a friends house, so I knew she was going to love this.

== What is it? ==

The Play-Doh Fun Factory is a device that enables you to make different shapes with Play-Doh. On the top of the machine is a lever, and on the front of the machine is an orange dial with eight different shapes to choose from; cross, bat(it looks a little like the batman symbol), star, triangle, a weird square looking shape, what looks like a back to front number 3, a shape that enables you to split the Play-Doh through the middle for a tagliatelle type effect, and a shape that enables you to make something similar to spaghetti. You also get a little 2 small fun sized pots of Play-Doh (colours vary) and a plastic knife, which is good as the Play-Doh does get stuck in the little holes and can be a right pain to clean.

== How do you use it? ==

Your child lifts up the lever and packs the Play-Doh into the hole, then you turn the dial to the desired shape you require. Upon pressing the lever, the Play-Doh comes out in a sausage type shape with the shape chosen on the dial running through it. Make sure you clean this when your child has finished, the machine doesn't like hard Play-Doh and when you hear your childs cries of "I can't do it Daddy" and you press the lever as hard as you can, the lever has a tendency to come off. To clean the machine, you turn the dial to the little lip, this will then allow you to open a door behind the dial, giving you access to the front of the machine where the Play-Doh comes out, you can then go in there and clean all the excess Play-Doh with the plastic knife (I only figured this out when writing this review, after the lever incident. there are no instructions with the machine on how to clean it.).

== Price ==

I paid £9.99 for this from amazon.co.uk including delivery, and for what you actually get in this pack, it's not a bad price at all

== Verdict ==

I love Play-Doh it is great to help with your kids creativity and fine motor skills and having the dial you have to turn and the lever you have to press on this machine is even better. Out of all the little Play-Doh tools and gadgets Lily has for molding and cutting, this is the one she seems to get out the most. I think it's because of the wide variety of shapes you can make with it. I like the fact that they give you a couple of starter pots and a separate little tool, that was a nice little bonus. Now that I have figured out how to clean the machine properly, I love this thing even more than I already did. This is definitely a great addition to the Play-Doh range and your child won't be disappointed. Lily uses this with her Play-Doh lolly sticks to make different shaped lollies, the possibilities are endless!