You know what my boys love? Well, lots of things – of course. But I have to say, like most kids, Elmo and Play-Doh are high on their list. So it’s no surprise that the new Play-Doh Shape & Spin Elmo was a hit in our house straight from the box. Honestly, they were dragging it around begging me to open it within seconds of it arriving at our house.
Shape & Spin Elmo is a device unlike any other Play-Doh toy I’ve ever seen. It doesn’t crank out shapes, instead you use Elmo’s arms to press out shapes. Around him is a spinning plate with various shapes that can be pressed out, including triangle, circle, square, pentagon and octagon. It works best if you put in the right amount of Play-Doh you need to create the shape, no more or less. But even my 2.5 year old is mastering rolling out little balls to place into the shaping area.
On Elmo’s hands you attach one of three plates. These circular, colored (red, blue, yellow) have faces on them that get imprinted into the Play-Doh shapes. The faces are Elmo, Big Bird and Cookie Monster. Surprisingly, the color of the plate does not match up with the face. For example, the Elmo imprint is not on the red plate. That did confuddle the boys at first. And every shape ends up with an imprint of Goldie on the opposite side.
To pop the pressed piece out, you push on a blue pedal on the front. You manually spin the plate to make it move around. There are 2 play modes. Play Mode 1 lets your child identify shapes and count. Play Mode 2 turns it into a game, where your child has to find shapes that Elmo names. There is also a play mat where you can match shapes you create into pictures from Sesame Street.
Play-Doh Shape & Spin Elmo is a huge hit with my boys. It’s suggested for ages 3 and up and costs $19.99.
im feeling it