We're A MakeDo Family

Ever since our council did away with the cardboard kerbside recycling, we have ended up with a box mountain in our kitchen until Ian does the weekly trek to the dump.  

Surely there is something that we can do with our cardboard stockpile before it gets disposed of?  There must be something fun that we can do to make this situation more bearable!

Makedo may just have the answer!

Makedo turns any household junk into modelling material allowing you to create constructions as adventurous as your imagination allows.  It offers ideas for projects for using your old cardboard packaging and other household junk.

Makedo's connector system allows you to easily join together card and other materials to make models big and small.  The clips and hinges are really cleverly designed and easy to use.  The kits also include a safe plastic saw and sticker kit.  We were sent a London Tube kit and some extra Freeplay packs to inspire us to make our own creations.

Ian and Freddy set to work and decided to make a locomotive train rather than the tube train because Fred wanted a funnel!  Between them they sawed, clipped and stuck stickers on their train.  They had a lot of fun together and the train they built was big enough for Freddy to drive and had room for his sister's dolls to take  a ride too.

When Freddy has finished playing with it, we can simply remove the re-usable clips and recycle the cardboard.  There is no tape or glue used in the construction so it is simple to dispose of responsibly.

Makedo is an environmentally friendly way to enjoy crafting and can be played with again and again.  The possibilities are endless and allow imaginative and creative play!

We are enjoying being a Makedo family!

Getting Messy with Moon Dough

Moon Dough Fun Pack

Moon Dough by Spinmaster is marketed as a magical, less mess dough that never dries out.  Sounds good!  We were sent a Moon Dough Fun Pack to try out to see what we thought.  Tiny Tester Freddy put it to the test.

The carry case comes with a piece of red, blue and yellow dough along with a selection of moulds and tools.  A removable section of lid has ten moulds of party related items such as food, cake and presents.  There are two dog moulds, a 3D apple mould, a birthday cake and potato mould, curly cutter, pie cutter and a dough flattener.

The dough itself is strangely textured like a dense foam or compacted powder.  When you squish it together it becomes manageable and easily goes into the moulds.  It is very dry to touch and doesn't stick, so it drops out of the moulds shaped with good detail, making modelling very easy, even for Freddy who is nearly three years old. The models hold their shape really well so little ones can indulge in some pretend play with the characters, animals or food they create.

Freddy was really engaged with this activity.  It did get messy with little bits all over the floor, but they were easy to pick up using a big blob of moon dough.  The bits didn't stick onto the laminate or into the carpet which was a real plus when it came to tidying up.  A quick once over with a hoover cleaned up the bits I'd missed.  By far his favourite activity was using the curly cutter to chop everything up into tiny pieces!

After Freddy played with it we ended up with mix and match rainbow dough with the colours all mixed together.  It actually looked quite pretty!  

Everything fits neatly back into the case and the dough doesn't go hard.  You just squeeze it and it regains its durable texture.  

The Moon Dough Fun Pack is a good activity for kids aged 3 and up.  The different shaped moulds give scope for discussions about  the objects and colours aiding language development.  The textured dough is a great medium for sensory play.  It seems more durable and less messy than play-doh or plasticine, and works better with moulds.  It also stays much cleaner too.  However, this is still a relatively messy activity so don't be lulled into a false sense of security...have your Hoover at the ready!

My only real irk with this product is the packaging which depicts children creating amazingly coloured models using way more dough than is included in the packaging.  I always find that kind of marketing a bit misleading...just show us what we're getting please manufacturers!  

The Moon Dough Fun Pack retails for £12.99 RRP which is a good price considering all the accessories including the storage case that it comes with.  Other playsets are available with different tools so you can add to your collection.  Moon Dough sets are available from Argos, Asda, The Entertainer, Amazon and Play.

This review has been done on behalf of  blogmatch.com who sent Freddy the Moon Dough.