Moon Dough Magic Zoo Review

One of my daughter's favorite things to play with is our previously reviewed Moon Dough Farm.  She still loves making a barnyard full of animal friends!  Over time she has gotten better and better at molding perfect little cow, pig, sheep, and horse.  Whenever we see new sets at the store, ER's eyes always light up and she's been wanting to add to her collection.  She was ecstatic when the latest and greatest from Moon Dough arrived on our door step for review.

What makes the the Magic Zoo from the Barn is that the way you mold the animals is different and through the use of Winder Walkers you can make your animals "move".  Included in the box are: a Magic Molding Zoo, 2 Winder Walkers, 3 Animal Molds (Gorilla, Penguin, and Bear), 1 Fence Mold, and 3 Colors of Moon Dough (White, Orange, and Purple).  The suggested retail for the set is $19.99.

We'll show you how the Magic Zoo works.  Assemble the Molding Zoo with a few snaps.  Then open up the purple Magic Cage and snap one of the animal molds into place.  Close up the Magic Cage and lightly push Moon Dough inside, as ER is doing above.

Attach the filled Magic Cage and Mold to the Molding Zoo by sliding into place.  Place a pair of Winder Walkers at the bottom of the Molding Zoo, make sure you snap the winding mechanism into the winding port, see above.  Use the crank to lower the Magic Cage down onto the Winding Walker.  This simultaneously winds up the Winder Walker, hence the "Magic" of the Magic Zoo!

When the Magic Cage has been lowered far enough, you'll hear a little click as the door opens.  Your newly molded zoo animal will "walk" down the the ramp of the Magic Zoo.  Pretty cool!

Three colors of Moon Dough are included so you can make several animals and also mold fences to create your zoo.  ER enjoys seeing the molded animals walk as they are made, but gets the most use out of the set by taking them off the Winder Walkers and playing with them on their own.  She loves to mold fences and we've added some extra Moon Dough packs so she can make plenty and still have animals.

The Magic Zoo set is for ages 3+, and ER is almost five.  She had some trouble getting the hang of using the Magic Zoo and snapping everything into place to make it work properly.  The first several times we used the Magic Zoo we had difficulty getting the Magic Cage to open up when lowered all the way.  At this point, it's definitely a play with not play independently toy in our home.  Like the Barn, I know with time she'll get the hang of it but I wouldn't expect most kids to be able to use it by themselves right from the get go. 

What I like best about Moon Dough is that it doesn't dry out and it's soft marshmallow texture.  It's great for molding and using with the various sets created by Spin Master for it.  It does tend to crumble easily, which some parents might be bothered by.  I happen to have a high tolerance for that kind of thing, probably because I used to teach twenty kindergarteners and painted with them all the time.  The plus with Moon Dough, is that while it doesn't stick to surfaces and is easy to sweep up. The Barn also has a suggested age of 3+, but I feel the Magic Zoo is a more advanced set for kids as they outgrow the Barn, which I think is easier to use.  Both are fun sets and I really like how the Magic Zoo addes another level of play for kids!



Disclosure: Complimentary review products and PR materials and images were provided.  The opinions and experiences related within are personal and unbiased.  No other compensation was received.