Personally I love Christmas, I love the build up, shopping, eating lots of food and the actual day itself. I am the second of four so even as I got older I still had a younger brother and sister that got lots of toys for Christmas, which I could play with. Sadly as we all got older we received greater and more expensive gifts, which we were all very grateful of. Also as you all get older in the family the magical and innocent experience of Father Christmas disappears and Christmas Eve feeling like the longest day ever! I loved going to bed on Christmas Eve and looking out of my window determined to stay awake so I could see Father Christmas, I will always remember the person who told me Father Christmas wasn't real. As I am such a big kid at heart it is lovely to have my two nephews to share Father Christmas with all over again. My oldest nephew is 3 years old, so this year he started to understand all about Father Christmas and was very excited about him coming down his chimney!

One of many toys that my nephew received was the "Play Doh Magic Swirl Ice Cream Shop". With him already having some pots of Play Doh and him loving making things, I thought this would be the ideal present for him.


***Contents***

 Four times 320g pots of play doh in different colours
 40 moulds
 Ice cream swirl unit base
 Sprinkler topper maker
 2 dishes
 2 cones
 2 scooper spoons
 Cake presser

The Ice Cream Shop comes unassembled in an attractive box. The box is a bright yellow and turquoise colour with a picture of the shop set up on the front showing how it works. Inside the box are the different pieces; the base, main ice cream swirl unit, sprinkler and an additional swirl unit. The 3 units have to be clicked into place on the base, which is simple and easy to set up and do. The base is white and has lots of different shapes made into it so different moulds can be made. The main swirl unit is white with a red handle. The other two units are blue, the sprinkler has a yellow top with a red rotating handle and the swirl unit has a green stopper.

To make Ice Cream using the main swirl unit you open up the red handle and place play-doh inside stuffing as much in as possible. Were the doh comes out place a pot or a cone, on the rotating stand. Then you firmly push down the red handle and out will come the doh looking like ice cream swirls, also the stand will rotate the pot or cone so it ends up looking like a real ice cream. To use the other swirl unit you just simple place play doh inside and then push the green stopper down forcing it out the end. To make the sprinkles you place play doh inside and then fasten the rotating stopper on the top and then turn it round and round and out come sprinkles.

I have tried this game out myself with my nephew; well I used him as an excuse for playing with it. On Christmas day we both sat at the table and set it all up and played with it for a good hour. However this is when I saw the problems that occur with this product. The product is recommended for ages 3 plus, parts of the product are quite hard to use physically and my nephew was unable to do some of the things. He was unable to push down the red handle himself to create the ice cream, you have to be quite forceful and in fact I found it hard to do myself. Also the other unit to make the swirling ice cream is very hard to push down and again he was unable to do this.

However there was one part of it that he loved doing, that was making the sprinkles. He loved turning the handle round and round and seeing the sprinkles come out the end into the pot.

This toy is very messy and bits of play doh get everywhere but what do you expect with play doh if you aren't prepared to deal with the mess then don't buy play doh for your children.

Overall I think this is a brilliant product; however I wouldn't recommend it for a 3 year old unless you are prepared to do the majority of the work yourself. My nephew tended to get mad that he was unable to do some of the things but you don't just have to make ice creams you can make loads of different things. I would say it was a well bought present and I loved spending time with my nephew playing with this product.