Fun Facts Friday - Play Doh
Fun Facts Friday - Play Doh
At Mums NI, we believe that education starts at home. We, as parents, are our children's Primary Educators. Together, we can inspire young minds and make learning fun!
In this Fun Facts Friday, we are going to find out about the stuff of childhood - Play-Doh! No matter what age you are, Play-Doh is sure to capture your imagination, so get your little ones and snuggle down for this fun fact mission to find out more about this amazing sensory dough.
Who invented it? How many colours does it come in? What does it smell like?
Lets find out . . .
Fact 1
In the 1930's a man called Noah McVicker invented a beige coloured dough for cleaning. Before Play-Doh was even a play item, people used it to clean coal soot (dust) off their wallpaper. People loved it as it didn't stain their wallpaper like other cleaners would have.
Fact 2
By the early 1950's, the beige dough compound was tweaked a little bit by Noah's nephew, Joseph McVicker, and marketed as a play item - Play-Doh. It was available in 3 colours: red, blue and yellow.
Fact 3
Since 1956, over 3 billion tubs of Play-Doh have been sold worldwide! That's a lot of love for those little tubs of squishy dough. How many do you have?
Fact 4
Play-Doh has broadened it's colour range over the years and is now available in an array of colours - 50 in total. What colour is your favourite? We love the Rose Pink.
Fact 5
Have you ever opened up a tub of Play-Doh and given it a sniff? Smells great right? Well, that scent is unique to Play-Doh. It's a smell of sweet vanilla with delicate tones of cherry. Yum!
Fact 6
Play-Doh smells so good, that it's been made into a perfume. You can now smell like Play-Doh! Cool, right? Delicious.
Fact 7
The creations you can make with Play-Doh are endless. It's a great toy to really get you using your imagination. You can squish colours together to make swampy monster colours or keep them seperate for more vividly coloured creations. Visit the Play-Doh website for more fun ideas of what you can make.
Fact 8
Uh-oh! Did you leave your Play-Doh out of it's tub? Did it go all dry and cracked? Don't worry - you can fix that! All you need to do is add a drop of water to the dried out Play-Doh and mix it through. Keep doing that until you are happy with the texture. Happy playing.
Fact 9
Play-Doh is really great for kids who have sensory seeking behaviours as it can be squished, squashed, pounded and used to build up muscle tone in the hand. Little toys can be hidden inside a large ball of Play-Doh which will help sensory seekers.
Even if a child is not sensory seeking, squishing Play-Doh between your fingers feels really satisfying. Give it a go!
Fact 10
Hmmm . . . did you spill your glitter tube? Is it all over the livingroom floor? Never worry. Go grab a ball of Play-Doh and roll it in the glitter, it will pick it all up and you will have a ball of glittery Play-Doh. So technically, it can still be used as a cleaning product; a glitter picker upper!
Competition:
Show us your child's Play-Doh creations and they might just win a little prize!
