Play-Doh vs Moon Dough

Before I write this, I just want to say that I have no other reason to write this other than, I just never knew. I didn't know the difference of the two. I got opinions of others, read some reviews on Amazon and made the decisions I did. I am not affiliated with either product in anyway, nor is either product endorsing or giving me anything for anything I say or don't say (although I would love that)!

My girls and I love to play Play-Doh. I introduced it to them when L was 24 months; M was a little young, she was 14 months old and closely supervised. The good thing is that she is so "Monkey See, Monkey Do" when it comes with L. L was pretty good about following the rules when it comes to "activities at the table."

THE TABLE: My husband made a table that's the perfect size for the girls to sit on the floor and color at, do activities, play games, etc. There are rules for most things at this table. If they don't follow the rules of said activity, then we put whatever it is away. This sounds stern and maybe mean, but it's not as bad as it sounds. I typically remind them if they need, all it normally takes is one reminder and we're all good!

Rules for coloring at the table: All crayons have to stay at the table. If they get up from the table, they aren't allowed to carry a crayon away with them. Basically the same rules for Play-Doh!

I buy the 2-packs of disposable table clothes from Target and I fold one in half, lay it on the floor and put THE TABLE in the middle. This makes for easy clean up! We are able to get most of the Play-Doh up but there's always a little that we miss. I carefully pick up the table cloth shake it out outside, fold it up and put it away for the next time! 

We started off with the Play-Doh Fun Factory. This is fun, but gets boring after awhile. While at Target one day, there was some Play-Doh sets on sale. They chose The Play-Doh Magic Swirl Ice Cream Shoppe and it was fun for them, although I had to help them with making most things. Helping them with these things wasn't an issue, I always sat right there playing along side them. BUT THEY WANTED TO MAKE THE ICE CREAM THEMSELVES. Even though they needed help with most parts of this, they still had fun with it. They would still play with this (if I hadn't have gotten rid of it). The reason I didn't like it, it was so hard to clean and not have Play-Doh dry up inside certain pieces (most of the pieces). This was more ME, that didn't like getting this Play-Doh set out. They couldn't play with multiple colors without mixing them because it was so hard to clean and took so much time to clean (L doesn't like when the colors mix). 

Christmas 2012 they got The Play-Doh Fun with Food - Meal Makin' Kitchen. This was a huge set. Fun to play with (for all of us)! Easy clean up! I would recommend this for anyone! They also received The Play-Doh Zoo Shapin' Fun Set. I didn't get this zoo out until just a few weeks ago. Before opening it, my husband and I started looking at the box and it was a lot of stamps. You weren't really able to "make animals" or do much with the animals. You could go things like make kangaroo foot prints and stamp things with the alligator's mouth. We started talking about how the girls like to MAKE THINGS. They liked making the ice cream, they LOVE all the different kinds of things they can make with the kitchen! I needed to exchange this. 

While at ToysRUS I saw the Moon Dough. I didn't know much about it. I asked on twitter and received a lot of negative comments (messy, crumbly, doesn't stay together). I read some reviews (I read reviews for everything!! EVERYTHING! Several of the reviews mentioned they loved the Moon Dough sets, not the moon dough, so they just threw that stuff out and used the sets with Play-Doh. GREAT IDEA! (I thought so anyway!!

I brought home the Moon Dough Magic Zoo. This was such a hit!! When I opened it, I just put the moon Dough aside (my girls never saw it). They can actually MAKE ANIMALS with this! The crank is easy for them to turn. The animals they make can actually walk. There's a fence mold and we made some fenced in areas for the animals to sit in, they chose one part of it to be the door and they make the animals go in and out and used their imaginations and played with these animals for awhile. There's a penguin mold, gorilla mold, and a bear mold. Very cool idea but I'm glad I went into it  not even expecting to use the moon dough (so I wasn't disappointed with anything). The clean up with it, I don't know what the difference is with the moon dough sets and the Play-Doh sets, but the Play-Doh doesn't stick to any of the MD sets parts! It's pretty awesome! This set made me want to get another one!

L received the Moon Dough Snack Shack for her birthday. They also have a lot of fun with this as well. The popcorn only makes 3 pieces at a time, so that's not the best, but making the ice cream is very easy. This set, they would get bored with quickly if they were playing WITH JUST THIS BY ITSELF. But I still can't get over how easy it is to use the Play-Doh with these sets. Pretty much NO CLEAN UP NEEDED!

I wold buy more of both products! I just know to read specifically what are included in the sets with the Play-Doh. I know what it is my girls like to do/make with them. If there's JUST a lot of stamps, it's not for us. I just feel like we have more options now that I realize we can branch out and chose from the Moon Dough sets.  The Moon Dough is messy, crumbly, we just set it aside; still winning with the toy itself! We have plenty of play-doh we can use with it all!

Birthdays with two so close in age

M's second birthday was in December. She seemed to really understand what was going on. She knew we were going to Chuck E. Cheese for her party (and she was so excited), she knew she was going to get presents, family was coming because it was HER DAY! She loved looking the different cakes and picking out which one that SHE wanted. This WAS HER DAY COMING UP, AND SHE KNEW IT!

L on the other hand (although she is older), it had been ten months since her birthday, so she didn't quite understand "get it". We did our best explaining that HER birthday was coming up, that she would have all of the same things happening! She would have her party, family would be coming to see her, she would get to pick her cake and what she wanted on it. I told her I was also going to give her two options and that she would be able to pick where she would have her party. She was getting excited for this! I think talking about her party at the same time was helping.

It was the day of M's party. Things couldn't have went any better! The party was suppose to be from 11-1:00, and it was over at one (but we still had tokens left, the girls and myself ended up walking out of the door at 3:00). Of course the fun wasn't over, at that point we were going home to the presents that M had unwrapped and now it was time to play.

Something we really haven't ever experienced was things being "MINE". L was excited about the presents as well and couldn't wait to play with everything and there were plenty of new things to go around! As excited as L was, I explained to her that it was M's birthday and when I would open something, I would hand it to M to get to play with it first, then they could share it. This was reasonable to us and seemed to be going okay. Until these words came out of M's mouth, "That's my present," she didn't want L playing with anything. I then explained to M that L was born before her and there were a lot of toys that are here that belonged to L before M was born and that L shares everything with her so nicely. I named some of her favorite toys, told her that they really belonged to L and how would she feel if she wanted to play with them and L wouldn't let her because they were initially L's presents. M then understood and things seemed to once again be okay.

Things were okay on the toy and sharing front, but off and on throughout the day and evening, L would bring up her party, she would tell me that she wanted to go to Chuck E. Cheese, just like M did. She wanted a Tinkerbell cake, just like M had. I don't know if she just had a good time and wanted to "make sure" that her party was just as fun, or what the reasoning was. I told her, if those were the things she wanted for her party, that would be perfectly fine but we could make the final decisions once her birthday was getting closer.

Towards the middle of January we started talking about themes etc. She was getting excited that HER DAY was coming. She made the decision to go to Chuck E. Cheese and she chose a Madagascar theme for her cake and things. We talked about all of this often (she was excited and brought it up several times a week). With this, M started talking about it being her birthday. Explaining to a two year old that her birthday had past and now this was L's day, over and over, was tiring (and not always easy). She became territorial of her presents again, not wanting to share. I explained that L would be getting things for her birthday and asked her how she would feel if L didn't share things with her. We had this conversation often.

Daddy and I decided the girls didn't really "need" anymore toys. With Christmas and M's birthday having both just passed. We decided to get something BIG that they would be able to use for quite sometime! We decided on a 14' trampoline with a safety enclosure. We bought it and it was put away (waiting for warmer weather).

We were having L's birthday party on Sunday, February 17, 2013 and the Saturday night before, I started thinking... L is very smart and doesn't forget a thing! When it was M's birthday, she paid attention to EVERYTHING and pointed out many times that she wanted her party to be just like M's. I started talking to my husband, saying that M came home with all kinds of presents and L has a trampoline. A trampoline (that she knows she's getting). A trampoline that is sitting in the shed in the backyard, that she's not going to open at her party and she's not even going to see until the weather is warmer. I told him the presents that she was going to open from family (I knew what everything was) and what she would be bringing home. I'm not saying in the least that any of this is about the presents, but at the same time, I didn't want my baby to be disappointed with the few things she would be bringing home and remembering ALL THE THINGS that her sister came home with. She turning 3, she's not going to understand that trampoline is in the shed... He agreed and after I got the girls to bed that night I went power shopping. I did not go crazy. But I got several small things that I knew would make her happy! She had a good amount to open and she came home with presents, she was happy! Her party was so fun and a big success!!