I hadn’t, until I got a sample of it along with a Moon Dough Barnyard play set.  Moon dough is a new kind of play dough that is soft, non-sticky, and marshmallow-like.  Best of all, the company says that the dough never dries out– hooray for that!

The barn play set is fun.  Just put dough into the top of the barn and crank a handle in the back.  Out come cute pudgy little animals: cows, chickens, and sheep.  You do need to make sure that the dough is firmly and completely pushed into the animal mold to get every detail on the animals, which might be hard for younger preschoolers.

Also, though the dough is not sticky, it does tend to crumble.  Playing with it inside?  Forget it.  I’d take it outside on a spread-out shower curtain to easily contain the mess.  Young preschoolers would probably need a parent or older sibling to help them squeeze the dough back together after play.

I had one other concern about the set:  I wonder if the animal-making gizmo might discourage some kids from using their own imaginations and making their own creations.  But there is a fair bit of creativity built into the set.  For example, it comes with molds to make hay bales and fences.  These pieces would encourage kids to build animal pens, feed their creatures, doubtless adding their own creative twists to the barnyard in the process.

Fun toy if you can handle a bit of mess.

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Disclaimer:  This toy was provided to me free of charge by Team Mom and Moon Dough in exchange for a post about the product .  The opinions expressed here are my own.