I remember as a child playing with Play-Doh all the time, creating little cakes or animals, playing for hours at a time. Then when my kids were young, they would play with it using the different accessories that you could purchase. If I close my eyes, I can even smell that distinctive scent that can only come from Play-Doh! Fast forward to today and the age of technology. Hasbro has brought excitement back to Play-Doh with an interactive app for both Android and iOS. The app is free and you can use it without buying the Play-Doh Touch Shape to Life Studio. Although, it says that buying the studio does give you extras that you won’t get without it. So let’s play!
I bought both name brand and some dollar store brand dough and downloaded the app to my iPad at home. After watching a few demonstration videos, I got to work on my own goofy creations. Even though the videos used the Life Studio, I wanted to see what we could do for free or very little cost. After playing around for a few minutes with the app and creating several new characters to add into the app, this is what I have found.
First, the app has lots of fun interactive sounds, even when left alone. I think it would easily engage any child and even some adults, like me. I used a plastic storage bag as my working surface and loaded my characters onto the app using a white sheet of paper. I did notice that there were several opportunities to enter special characters, which are included in the Life Studio, to do special things. There was always an option to just click on your own character or load a different one than what was asked for.
I did notice that when loading a character that I made, the app picked up every distinguishing characteristic of that character. For instance, if you had any texture to it or grooves, it would see that. I find this quite helpful if you want your object to be a solid color. For instance, you could use a stamp or cut-out of a butterfly and then use a paperclip to scratch out some details on it. Also another thing I would recommend is having a few characters already made before starting a session. Even though it is self-paced, if you have some prepared, your child will have more fun. It looks like you can have up to three different worlds in the app and you can delete those worlds to make room for more.
If you can’t get out to buy the dough, here is a simple recipe to make your own homemade play dough that can last up to four weeks. Directions to bake your kid’s creations, making them last forever, are included in the description of the video. I think this is a fun new way to play with Play-Doh that even adults will love!