Play Sense Dough, By The Kid Cave - REVIEW

Nature/ Type:          Handmade play-dough 

Rating:                     ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ 

Recommended age:  3 year-old ++   

Who would love this: Young kids that enjoy play-dough activities/ art & craft/ open-ended play! 

Our three-year-old is quite an enigma - she’s a little tempestuous and hard to predict. But there are a few things that would light up her mood almost without fail - Elsa from Frozen, unicorn piñata, and a play-dough activity. We are super honoured to have a chance to test out these gorgeous Play Sense Dough from The Kid Cave recently. Today, I’m going to share about the “Very Cherry” and “Peachy Peach” jars. 

Why I love ❤️ this toy: 

(1) Quality Handmade Dough I am a BIG FAN of handmade dough. I grew up playing with factory-made doughs which were always unpleasantly greasy, smelled horrible, and easily turned dry and crunchy after a day or two out from sealed packages. Since the day that I discovered the magical difference of a lovingly-crafted handmade dough, there is no turning back. The Kid Cave’s Play Sense Dough is responsibly handmade in Geelong, Australia. It’s toxic-free, no nasty ingredients, sensory soft, non-sticky, easy to clean-up, lasts much longer (up to 6 months!), and is rehydratable with just a few drops of water. Our kids were instantly drawn to the beautiful silky texture of the dough! 

(2) Beautifully Gorgeous Scent - The doughs are scented with fun and non-toxic oils. Like an alchemist, The Kid Cave matches the luxurious scent of each doughs with their respective themed colour. “Very Cherry” reminds me of a sweet fruity gummy bear. The dough invokes a lovely festive and Christmassy feel, and I absolutely love the stunning “cherry red” crimson. “Peachy Peach”, as per its name, has a fresh and delicate aroma. I love the soft and pastel mixture of light orange and yellow, the unique “peach” colour that is so heart-meltingly “romantic” and calming. 

(3) Open-Ended Play - When it comes to play-dough, there is no rule, no limit. The kids squish, roll, flatten, stamp, cut, sculpt, press, create. The girl made us a tray of “Cherry Brownie Cookies” in variety of cutter shapes, a peachy home for the alligator to store its glittery jewels, a fruit-scented “Christmas tree” in February, a cupcake topped with furry Pom-poms, and a three-tiered “donut cake”. 

(4) Large Storage Jar - The dough comes in a good quality 330g jar, which makes storage so easy and neat! 

Loving it! 

# gifted in exchange for review 

Where to buy this: 

https://www.thekidcave.com.au/collections/play-sense-by-the-kid-cave

Enjoy the video! 

Borax-Free Clay, By Mideer - REVIEW

Nature/ Type:          Non-sticky borax-free clay 

Rating:                     ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ 

Recommended age:  3 year-old ++ 

Who would love this: Playdough lovers  

I remember those sessions of colourful creations during childhood using factory-made playdough bought from stores - messy and sticky, a little pungent, dry and crunchy within a day or two once out of sealed packages. Being a mumma myself today, I can completely understand the ambivalent attitude of many parents when it comes to playdough. We discovered soon the magic of homemade playdough, the toxic-free and natural sort that gives us peace of mind. I had my initial doubt trying out the Mideer borax-free clay  I wasn’t too sure what to expect from another factory-manufactured clay, but boy, it sure felt different from my childhood-memory’s one! 

Why I love ❤️ this toy: 

(1) Borax-Free - The ingredients are listed in mandarin as these - “Water (水), Microspheres (微球), synthetic glue (合成糊剂), eco-friendly pigments 环保颜料.” I am no expert in playdough, but from the listed ingredients, the clay is probably nothing as natural as the homemade kind. I did some research on what “borax-free” means. According to Google, borax is an ingredient commonly found in household cleaning products, and a popular item to produce squishy and stretchy slime. It can be lethal if ingested, but the risk is apparently lower once it’s diluted in water and glue, but it’s definitely not zero risk. Borax is sometimes inserted in factory-made playdough to keep it fresher for a longer period. Mideer clay is made of Crerax technology with formulae to ensure the clay is both stretchable and completely boron-free. 

(2) Non-Sticky - So how’s the texture like without borax as cross-linking agent? It’s impressive! The clay is non-sticky, mess-free, stretchable like what we usually found at the top of pizza, and extremely easy to clean up. It feels like somewhere in between slime and playdough; it’s lightweight, and easy to form shapes and structures. 

(3) No Pungent Smell - It’s odourless. 

(4) Awesome Bright Colours - The colours are bright, exciting, and made of eco-friendly pigments. 

(5) Storage Box + Tools - I love the plastic storage box, five tools, and the graphic instructions (love the rainbow!). 

This is an (unexpectedly) good product, probably can’t compare to the purity of homemade types, but a good product nonetheless. 

# gifted in exchange for review 

Where to buy this: 

https://www.toyslink.com.au/brand/mideer.html (Australia) 

http://www.mideerkid.cn/ (Website) 

Enjoy the video! 

Unicorn Kit, Busy Box Creations

Nature/ Type:          Homemade Dough Set 

Rating:                     ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

Recommended age:  3 year-old ++ 

Who would love this: Art and Craft and Sensory Play Lovers!  

I love playdough moments with the kids. Yes, the “aftermath” of messy play and the cleaning up is often a headache, but the JOY we have creating and sculpting using this clever modelling mixture is simply priceless! One thing I love about  Busy Box Creations is their creatively curated playdough-centred themes, from scrumptiously-exciting Pizza Night, awesome pre-historic Dinosaur, mysterious Galaxy, to crawly and wriggly Bugs. The options are fantastic and inspiring! Today, I’m going to share about this very enchanting “Unicorn” kit, kindly gifted by Busy Box Creations . 

 I love ❤️ this toy: 

(1) Handmade Using Safe Ingredients- I love handmade playdough! They are made of safe ingredients, give us peace-of-mind, minus the pungent smell and unknown chemicals. One thing I immediately noticed about the dough is how smooth the texture is, and the GLITTER of magic incorporated within the dough is just too magically charming (there is also a non-glitter option if sparky bits are not your thing). The dough is made to order, ultimate freshness guaranteed, made using food grade ingredients, scented with premium essential oils, came lovingly wrapped in cling wrap, non-sticky, and most importantly, VERY EASY to clean-up!

(2) Unicorn Glittery Theme- Who can resist captivating unicorn theme in glittery and shimmery fairy land! Included in the set are three gorgeous doughs in pink, purple, blue, and all sorts of accessories to build our enchanted world, including a silver fairy wand, a white winged unicorn with romantic pink hair, two mini unicorns, glistening gems, pom poms, trinkets, straws, icy pole sticks, rainbow erasers, glittery mat, feathers and so on. The kids squished, rolled, flattened, and created their imaginary world for the mystical creatures; a throne of feather, secret cave of treasures, unicorn’s dream house, and magical flowing river. They even added a “chalk mountain”, “giant sunflower” and “dangerous forest” using objects and plants they found at home. I love the open-ended play experience and how imaginatively sparking it is! 

(3) Organised Storage Container- I also love the organised storage container with compartments. Neat, clean and easy to store away! 

This kit is enchanting!

# gifted in exchange for review 

Where to buy this: 

https://busyboxcreations.com/

Enjoy the video! 

Drawing Dough Kit, by Tookyland

Nature/ Type:            "Paint" with dough creative activities 

Rating:                       ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ 

Recommended age:   3 year-old ++ 

Who would love this: Play-dough and craft lovers!

We love sculpting and creating our mini world of imagination using play dough. But to make a painting of art using colourful modelling clay? That’s new to us! Tookyland Drawing Dough Kit from Eleganter Australia opens our eyes to a new possibility of crafting with play dough. We are loving our newfound creative activity! 

Why I love ❤️ this kit: 

(1) New Creative Activity - The kit comes with 6 tubs of play dough of different colours (red, yellow, green, blue, purple, black) and 10 sheets of pre-printed pictures to go with the “paint with dough” activity. We were pretty excited to try out this new crafting experience. It was a flurry of busy and a little chaotic 🤣 activities; from flattening, rolling, squeezing, moulding, cutting, matching, and pasting. We turned the dough into miniature 3D dots on T-Rex, colourful tentacles on octopus, wavy auburn hair for mermaid, straight serious mane for lion, swirly icing on multi-tiered cake, and many more. Some shapes were easy to form, some were trickier than the rest. I love how the dough-painting activity kept the kids thoroughly engaged, while polishing their fine motor skills in a stimulating way! We enjoyed the “special 3D effect” and vibrancy created using this unique art technique. Of course, we can also use the play dough in its “ordinary” way to form any shapes, creations and imaginary yummy treats. These are fun and versatile resources that can be used for multiple purposes! 

(2) Non-sticky Dough - I like the non-sticky nature of the dough. This is one of the most mess-free play dough sessions we ever had. The colours are bright and bold; the texture is soft, light-weight, non-greasy, easily separable from the picture sheets or any other play dough accessories and tools, and super convenient to be packed away. 

(3) Organised Container - I love the clear transparent mini tubs for each play dough and the very handy box to store everything away neatly after the play. I am loving how organised and clean everything look! 

Thank you Eleganter Australia for recommending this interesting product to us! 

# gifted in exchange for review 

Where to buy this: 

https://www.eleganter.com.au/

Enjoy the video!