Moon Dough Review

ER has been fixated on this box at Target for a few weeks, so she was THRILLED when the Moon Dough Barnyard arrived in the mail for us to review from Team Mom.

Moon Dough is a new molding compound for kids ages 2-4. Soft and marshmallow-like, it cleans up easily, and never dries out, so you can use it over and over. It's also hypo-allergenic, wheat free, and available in eight colors: blue, green, white, orange, purple, red, pink, and yellow. There are numerous playsets available including: Moon Dough Pizza Shop, Magic Molding Doghouse, Moon Dough Burger Shop, and the Barnyard we received to review. Moon Dough refill packs are also available.
We opened our box up and found it contained:

• A simple to assemble barnyard with molds for a cow, pig, sheep, and horse
• Fence and hay bale molds
• Themed playmat
• Three colors of Moon Dough, ours included white, yellow, and blue.

The Moon Dough's texture reminds me of those orange circus peanut candies; it's not sticky at all. ER quickly figured out how to use the barn and knew she needed to push Moon Dough into the spot at the top. Then all it took was two cranks of the handle and we started having a whole bunch of animals for our barnyard. She was able to work the molding barn by herself and got good results. There were times when she didn't push the compound in hard enough and it wasn't completely filled.

That resulted in faceless animal forms, but we think she just needs a little bit more practice to get used to using it more. Plus it's so quick and easy to remold an animal, if one didn't come out perfect, it didn't frustrate her to try again. I will say that it was A LOT easier for her to work than the molding sets she has for another well know brand of "doh" you "play" with. I was hoping the Moon Dough wouldn't be as crumbly as it was, but it was relatively easy to pick up. Next time I'll have her play with it directly on our clean floor. That way she won't be dropping it from the table to the floor and I'll only have one place to pick it up from. It gets high reviews from her. She really liked it a lot and quickly had a whole barnyard full of animals to play with.

I wish it came with a bigger playmat, and reusable containers for the Moon Dough to be stored in. They came in baggies, that aren't resealable, and while the compound won't dry out, it is crumbly and needs a sealed container for storage to avoid a big mess.

Over all, it was so nice that ER could use it independently and not need to call me every few seconds for help. I liked how this set provides several options of things to mold and create, the cute details of the molded objects, and how the barn can be used as a prop to play with too. I am already considering purchasing the Pizza Shop for her.

Updated: 10/28/10: My friend MaryAnne at Mama Smiles pointed out that its primary strength is its ability to mold into figures easily. I agree, it is not as useful to make your own shapes, but since ER is able to use it by herself and be successful, that more then makes up for that to me.

Moon Dough is available at Toys "R" Us, Target, Walmat, Kmart, Amazon.com, A.C. Moore, Michaels and e Toys. The Moon Dough Barnyard retails for $19.99.



Disclosure: The Moon Dough Barnyard has been provided for review by Team Mom and Spin Master. This post relates my own personal and unbiased opinion and experiences with the products. Yours may differ.