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The Best Play-Doh Sets (Reviews) – 2021 Top Picks

Everyone remembers the delightful smell and texture of play-doh. Many people want to pass the joy of play-doh on to their children, who may not get a chance to experience it in the course of their primary education.

Most play-doh sets superficially appear the same, however. Picking out the right clump of play-doh is far harder than it may seem. We’ll give you a helping hand by walking you through the best play-doh sets on the market so that you will know which one to purchase.

Soon enough, your child will be breaking into a fresh block of play-doh much like you did back in the day.

Our #1 Choice – Play-Doh Fun Factory Deluxe Set

This is the most fundamental play-doh set you can buy in 2021. If you’ve ever wanted to purchase a single play-doh set for your child and have no intention of ever purchasing another, this set is the right one to pick.

The virtues of the set are exactly what you’d expect. In the set are six blocks of doh and a handful of “factory” tools which your child can use to shape the doh or extrude it.

The tools of this set offer a nearly limitless number of play situations which your child can take advantage of. Despite their heavy-duty appearance, none of the tools are dangerous. Everything from the “scalpel” to the dough grater is ready for children to play with.

Whether your child opts to assemble the entire factory infrastructure provided with the kit is a different matter. Most children will be content to play around with the doh and the shapers without any larger constructions.

On the other hand, an industry-minded child may find that creating a doh extrusion and shaping workflow is right up their alley. The only way to find out is to set your child up with the pieces of the kit and see what they end up doing.

Our #2 Choice – Play-Doh Burger Barbecue Toy

With the delicious scent of play-doh, many children have been tempted to take a bite. This playset will aggravate that temptation but provide an excellent opportunity to exercise self-control while playing imaginatively as a result.

The griddle is a George Foreman style, meaning that your child will place some play-doh on the grill and bring the top part down to make the patty.

With the set, you’ll get five separate blocks of play-doh as well as a few plates, a spatula, a tube, and a doh extruder. The grill mold provisions for a sausage, a mushroom, an onion, a tomato, and a burger patty.

The kit’s doh colors are picked so that you can make the perfect doh meal. With minimal effort your child can create a beautiful blue plate with a burger and fries — and you’ll be impressed at how much detail there will be.

For children with specific burger preferences, there are tools to create lettuce, tomato, onion, and even a slice of cheese. They can also pick between wheat or white “bread” on their burger.

It’s too bad that your child can’t eat the delectable creations that they will make with this set.

Our #3 Choice – Play-Doh Kitchen Creations Magical Oven

The baking possibilities are endless thanks to this play-doh toaster oven.

With the set, your child will get a handful of utensils, cake shapers, a plate, a baking pan, cupcake tins, six blocks of play-doh, and the toaster oven itself. It’s important to remember that the elements of this kit are fairly small, so they may be easy to lose if your child has a habit of making a mess.

Nonetheless, the beautiful dishes that the set produces can ignite your child’s culinary flair. Whether they’re making a batch of chocolate chip cookies or a birthday cake, this set will give them the means to make their idea come to life, if not to taste.

The oven itself has a light which changes colors depending on whether it is baking or whether it is finished. Likewise, it has a small bell which makes a distinct ding when the time is up. The bell is quiet, so you won’t be bothered unless your child decides to bake several successive batches.

Finally, your child will also get a helpful guide to creating the most aesthetically appealing baked goods using the set. This is extremely helpful because it explains the fundamentals of shaping the play-doh for an intended visual result in deep detail.

You may need to help your child read the instruction set but they’ll appreciate the added precision which they can exercise as a result.

Our #4 Choice – Play-Doh Modeling Compound 10-Pack

This collection of play-doh is ready to mold. Ten different blocks of play-doh are included. The set has most of the core colors of play-doh, including both the basic colors as well as rarer colors like black, white, and cyan.

If your child is the imaginative type, they probably don’t need any other toys to help them bring this play-doh set to life. On the other hand, if your child prefers to implement the ideas proposed by others, this set is probably a bit light on structure.

You might want to purchase a set which offers tools to shape the play-doh or a set which provides a guide for how to make specific designs.

If you find that your child’s other blocks of play-doh are getting to look a bit dirty or they are starting to crumble and fall to pieces because of dryness, this set is a great option for refreshing the collection.

Your child can easily integrate the new play-doh from the set into their old designs if they prefer not to throw everything away and start over.

Finally, the set is ready to use upon arrival, but your child may have trouble fetching the correct amount from the canister. Offer a helping hand and you’ll ensure that no play-doh is wasted.

Our #5 Choice – Play-Doh My Little Pony

For the child who loves both My Little Pony and playing with play-doh, it’s hard to find a clearer intersection of values than with this set.

Each type of pony can be produced using this set. That means if your child prefers Earth ponies to Pegasus ponies or Unicorns to Princesses, they’ll still be able to make their favorite type of pony.

Furthermore, the set includes all of the wild colors that you’ll need to produce a beautiful pony. Most importantly of all, the set includes the molds and bases that your child will need to produce the pony they want.

The extruder and molds help to keep the pony’s doh stead while the pony is in progress. With a bit of effort, your child will be able to make a 3D pony which they can present for your approval.

The delicate molding of the ponies might surprise you — or it might disappoint your child if it doesn’t turn out correctly. Making the molding express the details of the pony’s hair can be a hit or miss depending on how carefully your child follows the instructions and handles the doh.

Our #6 Choice – Play-Doh Play ‘n Store Table

The benefit of this set is that your child will get a unified one-stop play-doh play station which they can use to organize all of their play-doh activities.

With this set, your child will get the table itself, complete with embedded molds, as well as many canisters of play-doh. They’ll also get a couple of extruders and a few tools, including the coveted play-doh scissors.

The best part about this kit is that you won’t find all the pieces scattered around your house. The storage for the kit is integrated into the table itself, meaning that there are not as many molds or tools to lose.

At the same time, the table makes for a great shared playspace. Your child and a friend can easily find themselves huddled around their play-doh workbench for hours at a time.

Finally, this play-doh playset is a standalone toy if necessary. You can easily provide a lot of entertainment with one purchase, and you won’t need to worry about performing any maintenance or purchasing any add-ons.

Our #7 Choice – Play-Doh Doctor Drill ‘n Fill

Children don’t like the dentist, but they do enjoy play-doh. Therefore, this toy provides children with a chance to play as a dentist while also using play-doh so that they will learn how to avoid the very tortures which they might inflict upon the poor patient.

The premise of the toy set is simple: a patient with play-doh teeth is at the mercy of your child. There’s more to the set than what might first appear, however.

Your child will learn something about where cavities originate, how to correct crooked teeth, and how difficult it is for dentists to access the back of the patient’s mouth. Thanks to the kit’s toothbrush, handheld mirror, drill, and tooth polisher, they’ll be ready for their future career in no time.

Is Play-Doh Safe?

Yes, play-doh is safe. Play doh is produced using wheat germ and other wheat byproducts as well as gums derived from plant sources.

This means that if your child caves to the delicious smells of the play-doh and eats a little bit, they’ll only be eating organic material that they’re probably already consuming from other sources too.

Play doh is safe to handle, and is completely non-toxic. Most play-doh sets have no sharp objects or anything which your child could choke on aside from the play-doh itself.

You may want to ensure that your child does not eat too much play-doh, however. It may give them a stomach ache or constipation.

Is Play-Doh Good For Creative Play?

Yes, play-doh is among the best toys for creative play for young children. Play doh empowers your child to build whatever is in their imagination. It also lets them experience the constraints of the real world, which will help to guide their creativity.

Play doh also provides enough structure for your child to be creative within the context of a given task. Many play-doh playsets provide the context for your child, encouraging them to think inside of the box. This helps to build their problem-solving capabilities.

Finally, play-doh is great for creative play because it encourages experimentation. It’s easy to rectify a mistake when your child is using play-doh. The consequences of these mistakes are very small as a result, which will help your child to build a gregarious creative nature.

How Do I Help My Child Play With Play-Doh?

Your child won’t need much help playing with play-doh, but there are a few pointers which you should keep in mind.

First, young children are not very good at judging how much play-doh they will need. You should be the one distributing the play-doh that they need at the start of a play session to ensure that they don’t take out too much.

It’s difficult to recover play-doh which your child has been using for a while, so consider most of the play-doh which you remove from the canister as lost.

Second, children may need a bit of guidance regarding how the play-doh works at the very start of the play session. Play doh is easier to mold when it warms up. At the start of a play session, it may be too firm and your child may get confused.

Advise them to hold it in their hands for a little while and everything will be fixed.

Finally, your child may need help reading the instructions for the more complicated play-doh playsets. The instructions often document the steps that your child will need to use to produce a certain result, so helping your child along will ensure that everything turns out correctly.

Aside from these cases where a bit of instruction is necessary, you probably don’t need to spend much time helping your child to play with play-doh.

They will learn what their creative interests are very quickly, and interfering might leave them dependent on you to use their creativity, which isn’t something that either of you want.

You should also suspend your judgment when your child shows off his or her play-doh creations. Fostering creativity means accepting what is produced and endeavoring to make the next version better rather than being a critic.