Play-Doh Candy Cyclone

When I was a child Play-Doh was just as the name suggested, dough that you played with. The really lucky children maybe had a rolling pin or something to cut it with. The rest of us just had our hands and our imaginations. Things are very different now though.

The Play-Doh Candy Cyclone allows your children to make sweets (or candy) with their play-doh. The main component is a machine where children feed Play-Doh in at the top and then turn the handle so that the spirals turning inside turn it into evenly sized gumballs, which then roll down the spiral chute and collect at the bottom.

At first it can be a bit fiddly to work out how thick to make the Play-Doh to feed it in - the instructions seem to suggest that it can be thicker than the hole you need to feed it through - but once you've mastered that it is really simple to use. It's not difficult for small hands to turn the handle and if things do get stuck inside there is a large door on the back which you can open to free things up. So that there's no chance of any accidents, it's been designed so that the handle will not turn when the door is open, so it's not possible for children to get their fingers caught in the workings.

Once the balls have been formed children can either play with these as they are, or can turn them into shaped "sweets". With the balls places in the spaces on the circular trays you can then place this tray under the press, and when the child presses down on each gumball they are turned into small shaped sweets.

The gumballs are also the perfect diameter to then go into the syringe, which then allows you to make long snakes of Play-Doh. These can be wound into spirals to go on the lolly sticks. The gumballs themselves can also be fed on to the sticks to create other lollies.

With a recommended age of 3 years+ the Candy Cyclone worked really well for a three year old and she was able to work all of it herself, with only adult intervention when the mechanism got stuck as it had too much Play-Doh in it. With the opening back it was really easy to un-jam and the magical texture of Play-Doh meant that it didn't stick inside at all. The Candy Cyclone makes a great gift for any child that already enjoys playing with Play-Doh.

And if you're looking for more inspiration as to what to make with Play-Doh then check out the Hasbro website where there is a whole section of Fresh Ideas for things to make and also some seasonal activities.

The Play-Doh Candy Cyclone is available in store, or via the Cuthberts online shop.