The World of Play-Doh

WHAT IS PLAY-DOH?

Play-Doh is a non-toxic modeling material for young children, for older children and, of course, for the young at heart. It is made from a blend of wheat flour, water, salt, boric acid, and mineral oil. Join me here as I review a bit of the history of the iconic play compound.

A BRIEF HISTORY

Play-Doh was first made as a wallpaper cleaner in the United States in the 1930s and became a children’s product in the 1950s when it appeared at an educational convention and was eventually used in schools. Initially the department store Woodward and Lothrop took on the product but when Macy’s and Marshall Field’s saw how popular the modelling compound was, they also took it on. Play-Doh did not have money for advertising so, in what turned out to be a stroke of genius, they arranged for Captain Kangaroo, the then massively popular children’s show, to use it on air once a week. The rest is, as they say, history.

THE COMPANY'S HISTORY, A VIDEO

The Accidental Birth of Play-Doh: Uncover the complete company history via interesting, 10-minute long YouTube video:

CONTINUED POPULARITY

Play-Doh has continued to be popular in the decades that followed and is now available in an endless array of sets that include everything from cans of dough to items like the perennially popular Fun Factory to pop culture themes of the day like Star Wars and Disney. The product made the Toy Industry’s Association Century of Toys List in 2003.

SKILL DEVELOPMENT

Play-Doh is a wonderful product for developing children’s skills. Fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination are enhanced with all of the pushing, squishing, squeezing, and pinching that is required to play with the product. Literacy and numeracy are promoted when a child creates shapes and numbers and acts out stories. Calm and focus are a natural result of this quiet activity that also supports creativity, imagination, playtime and social skills. Whether a child has a few colors of the modeling material or many colors, the options are endless.

TODAY

According to the video shown above, Play-Doh is available in over 80 countries today and the current owner, Hasbro, produces over 500 million cans of the modeling compound each year.

Is there a can of Play-Doh in your future?

See you at the toy store!
Brenda
Treasures By Brenda

MORE PLAY-DOH

Retired, new, used and vintage Play-Doh sets in my eBay store.

Discover the Play-Doh party bag.

Uncover the  Play-Doh and Disney Princess Royal Palace set. 

Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate, Ebay (EPN) and/or Esty (Awin) Affiliate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”

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Reviewing - Will That Be Regular or Ethyl?

My cousin's  husband grew up in a small town in mid Missouri.  He recently published a book he wrote about his growing up years.

Growing Up Along Route 66 in 1950's Missouri

This is a delightful book filled with anecdotes about life in a small town in the 1950's.  Remember when: 

•  Kids rode their bikes all over town
•  Members of the opposite sex had "Cooties"
•  Students got their vaccinations at school
• To research a subject you used the Encyclopedia
• Some teachers resorted to paddling to keep kids in line
• Gas for your vehicle was filled by the attendant who also would sell you needed repairs for the car

Lessons for Life

Small town living gave DeWayne many lessons that were to last throughout his life.  Some of these included a strong work ethic built while working in the family chicken hatchery, a church community that is a big part of every day life, and a large family that looked out for each other. 

DeWayne's father also gained some great insights from his father who was a rather quiet man, but taught through his examples.

A job at a gas station on Route 66 was also full of lots of humorous incidents and some good life lessons.

Humorous Incidents

There are many humorous incidents scattered throughout the book as DeWayne gives us a glimpse into his childhood.  Here are just few of the many you won't want to miss.

•  Cow Patty Softball
•  Mishap while fishing in frozen pond
•  Church organist falling asleep when time to play
•  Mishaps at the service station on Route 66

So, if you are looking for a walk down memory lane and you want to read a book that is sometimes humorous, sometimes sad, but always realistic be sure to pick up "Will that be Regular or Ethyl?".

Book Available on Amazon

   

Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate, Ebay (EPN) and/or Esty (Awin) Affiliate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”

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Review of The Replacement Wife by Eileen Goudge

The Replacement Wife, by Eileen Goudge, attempts to answer the question, “How would it work out practically if a wife with a terminal illness tried to select the one her husband should remarry after her death?

Camille is a professional and very successful matchmaker. She has been to the weddings of many happy clients. So when she learned her cancer, which had been in remission, had returned and even spread, she began to lose hope that she would live to see her two children grow up. Her doctor gave her a 3% chance to live, and that was only if she submitted to another stem cell replacement transplant. She was not sure she wanted to go through that kind of fight again with so little chance of winning.

She is so upset by the prognosis, that she stops off at a bar on the way home. Her physician husband Edward has left a message saying he has to work late again, and she knows the children are home alone, with her fourteen-year-old daughter in charge of her nine-year-old brother, Zach.

Her memories flash back to her own childhood. Her mother had died when Camille was only fourteen, the same age as her daughter Kyra. Camille's father was a traveling man, gone three weeks of every month. Only their live-in housekeeper Rosa, who could barely speak English, was there for her and her eleven-year-old sister Holly. Her grandmother Agnes lived on the other side of the country. Agnes called often, suspicious that her son never seemed to be there. Camille had manufactured an imaginary friend of her mother's so she could give Agnes a name when she demanded to know who besides Rosa was looking after them. She was afraid of having herself and Holly reported as being left on their own and placed in foster care. She found herself taking charge of the household the way her mother had, making sure her father remembered birthdays, meetings with teachers, etc. She never wanted Kyra to have to go through what she did.

Camille's husband Edward had been a rock to her during her illness. But that illness had also disrupted their relationship to the point where he no longer looked forward to going home. Camille's illness had been in remission so long he now felt things were finally able to go back to normal. While Camille had been getting her bad news, he'd been visiting a travel agent, getting information on places they might vacation to celebrate their approaching 20^th anniversary. He felt that could be a new beginning for them.

When Edward and Camille were finally alone after the children went to bed that night, Edward was devastated by Camille's news and he urged Camille to fight for her life. Camille was reluctant since there were no new experimental drugs she qualified to try. She had another plan. She decided she would use her professional skills as a matchmaker to find her replacement as Edward's wife and as a mother for her children.

Edward was not receptive to this idea. He insisted he only wanted Camille. He was not eager to remarry. She insisted the children needed a stable life and someone there for them when they came home. She envisioned them coming home to an empty house as their dad continued to work late almost every night. She didn't want Kyra to have a childhood like hers. She insisted Edward come to the next “meet and greet” she threw for her single clients so that he might find someone. It all seemed very logical to her.

What she hadn't counted on was the human element. People like making their own decisions. She also hadn't counted on getting into a new drug trial that put her cancer back in remission. You will have to read the book to find out what happened to all concerned.

The plot intrigued me. What married woman with children would not wonder what would become of her family if she died? But I also wondered how trying to play God with relationships in this situation would work? It's one thing to know and even hope your husband would remarry. It's quite another to try to find another woman to marry him shortly after you are gone, and have her spending time getting to know your husband and children while you are still alive and watching everything -- even to have her along on family vacations.

I would recommend this book to anyone who is intrigued with human drama, how relationships, marriages and families work, and what cancer patients experience not just physically, but emotionally. I believe the author took a question – How would it work if a wife picked her own replacement? – and turned it into a well-thought-through novel. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it, though I might have wished for a different ending.  

Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate, Ebay (EPN) and/or Esty (Awin) Affiliate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”

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