Play-Doh

From ToyReview

Contents 1 Toy Overview 2 Play-Doh Development 3 Play-Doh Toys and Sets 4 Links to toys reviewed by visitors on The Toy Review 5 Useful Play-Doh Links

Toy Overview

Play-Doh is coloured dough that comes in small plastic pots and has been a popular children's toy for decades. You can buy all sorts of equipment and machines to accompany the Play-Doh sets such as shape cutters, moulds and even a fun factory. The soft, spongy texture of the dough makes it appealing to children because you can mould the dough into all sorts of shapes or figures and extrude it using a compressing tool that pushes the dough out into long worms of shapes. The dough has an extremely distinctive smell that many people who loved Play-Doh will never forget. Play-Doh has developed a lot since its launch in 1956 - from a single white doh to a whole children's toy and over 50 available colours.

Play-Doh Development

Noah and Joseph McVicker invented the dough in 1956, it was originally invented as wallpaper cleaner but because it didn't have the toxicity of a normal cleaning product it was developed into a brilliant toy for children. Sales of Play-Doh pots increased dramatically over the years, kids loved the fun dough because it was easy to handle, the feel and texture was pleasant and the dough could be shaped into a variety of models and figures. As demand increased, new equipment and accessories were created to accompany the dough and during 1964 the product went international and was exported to countries in Europe such as England, Italy and France.

During the early months of 1991, the famous toy giant Hasbro bought Play-Dohs manufacturers and developed new ideas for the toy under the Playskool line. The product celebrated 40 years in the market during 1996 and brought out two new Play-Doh colours – silver and gold to join the existing colours yellow, red, blue, white, green, pink, orange and purple.

In 2006 Play-Doh reached its 50th birthday and introduced further colours into the collection. They also launched new play sets to accompany the doh in celebration of such a long success in the toy industry. New toys included the Play-Doh Birthday Bucket, the Play-Doh 50 Colour Pack and the Fuzzy Pumper Crazy Cuts set.

Play-Doh Toys and Sets

Since Hasbro acquired Play-Doh in 1991 we have seen a number of toys and Play-Doh accessories on the shelves of thousands of UK and US shops. Newer launched items include Play-Doh Operation, Play-Doh Fixin' Fridge, Play-Doh Drill and Fill, Play-Doh Fun with Food Kitchen, Play-Doh Fun Factory and the Play-Doh Doggy Doctor. They have also teamed up with other popular brands to create exciting inventions, such as the Shrek Root Canal Playset. Larger items are available now as well; the Play-Doh Creativity Table is an extremely popular buy at the moment, as are the Play-Doh Dohville Fuzzy Pet Parlour and the Play-Doh Dohville Ice Cream Truck.

Play-Doh itself comes in a number of bright colours in different sized plastic pots and the lids match the colour of the dough inside. The pots are yellow with a red cloud shape in the center and a small illustration of a boy with a blue beret, which later changed to a cap as their signature. The text 'Play-Doh' is white with a dark outline and the font is rounded and fun.

The equipment that can be bought with the dough is also brightly coloured in order to appeal to children. All additional play sets are manufactured from soft plastic so children don't hurt themselves. Every product tends to have a different block of colour for each section; this makes it easier for children to know what area performs a particular task as they can associate the colours.

Links to toys reviewed by visitors on The Toy Review

• Play-Doh Bumblebee

Useful Play-Doh Links

• Play-Doh at Hasbro