Art & Craft

Spin Master Moon Dough Magic Zoo Playset

PRODUCT: Spin Master Moon Dough Magic Zoo Playset (www.spinmastertoys.co.uk)

DESCRIPTION: A hypo-allergenic wheat-free modelling set based on zoo animals, which uses magic moulding dough that never dries out. Includes 1 x magical moulding zoo, 1 x penguin mould, 1 x gorilla mould, 1 x bear mould, 1 x fence mould, 2 x winder walkers, 1 x sticker sheet, 1 x magic cage, 1 x instruction sheet, 3 x bags of coloured Moon Dough (21.3g/0.75oz). Suitable for children aged 3 years upwards.

GOOD POINTS: The Magic Zoo playset is just one in a range of Magic Dough modelling sets by Spin Master, and is certainly a great alternative to Play Doh for encouraging imaginative play.

If you are new to Moon Dough then it is similar in idea to Play Doh, in that you mould balls of coloured dough into various shapes, models and structures. The benefit of Moon Dough, however, is that it never dries out (true as far as was tested), meaning that your child can enjoy continued use of the set without needing to replace the dough...unlike other rival modelling sets.

This particular playset is based on a zoo scene and contains three different coloured doughs (white, orange and purple), as well as a set of animal moulds to enable your child to bring popular zoo creatures to life!

Each dough comes in separate bags containing thick powdered lumps, which require some initial rolling and compressing using your hands to create a soft and more solid form (this may be easier to do by rolling back and forth across a hard surface). Once the dough is formed it is soft and very easy to work, and can be pulled apart and reformed easily as required.

The set contains a plastic magic moulding zoo structure which is incredibly quick to set up, and involves simply fitting the handle and base to the main 'zoo' body (i.e. zoo gates), and then decorating the structure with the stickers included to add fun detail. A number of plastic moulds of familiar zoo animals are also included which your child can use to create a whole collection of creatures, and the set also comes with a fence mould to make an animal pen around the zoo!

The clever feature of this set however, is that the magic moulding zoo moulds the animals for you. The set contains a 'magic cage' into which the chosen animal mould (which come in two halves) can be inserted and then filled with dough. The cage then clips to the magic zoo structure, and a 'winder walker' (i.e. feet component which makes the animal walk when wound up) can be fitted to the zoo's base (making sure that the winding mechanism fits correctly into the winding port). The idea behind this is that a handle on the top of the zoo structure winds the walker up when turned, at the same time lowering the magic cage down onto the walker. At this point, the cage springs open and the moulded animal magically walks down the ramp!

In our opinion, the Spin Master Moon Dough Magic Zoo Playset is a great alternative to Play Doh, and is an excellent way for your child to demonstrate their creative side!

BAD POINTS: Quite expensive although the dough should last a long time. The dough will ruin if it comes into contact with any water, liquids or soaps. The different colours of dough cannot be separated once combined. Only two winder walkers are included.

PRICE: Approx. £22.99

Available from Amazon, Argos and Toys R Us