The Play-Doh and Nick Jr. Dora the Explorer Play-Doh playset comes in a brightly colored cardboard box, one that is sure to catch the eye of any child who loves Dora, as the front cover of the box features an animated Dora face as well as a perfect scene made from the contents of the box and made by someone who is obviously more experienced with Play-Doh than I am! Other than featuring many perfect Play-Doh creations on the box and many references to the beloved character of Dora, the box features the typical parental warnings as well as a “Caution this product contains wheat” blurb. There is nothing spectacular about the packaging for this play set, although most Play-Doh sets are packaged similarly and the product seems to sell itself since it really is the only modelling clay type product that has such an impressive history on the toy market.

The box contains three two-ounce cans of Play-Doh (mini size,) a plastic base for the playset, a cardboard “backdrop” which slots in to the base, a plastic “bridge” for the playset, a “book” mold (the monkey mold which folds like a book,) a small plastic Dora figure, an “extruder” (the palm tree looking thing which is supposed to inject doh in to the other provided molds…if only someone had told me this when I was playing with the set,) and three other “molds” which consist of hollow plastic shells which fit on to the base of the playset and get “injected” with doh by the palm tree “extruder.”

Play-Doh has many featured playsets and recently began working with Nick Jr. to produce playsets which feature top kids characters. Other Play-Doh playsets include The Play-Doh Backyardigans Playset and The Spongebob Playset. Aside from playsets Play-Doh also produces “stampers,” also known as “can toppers,” which are figures from popular childrens cartoons such as My Little Pony, Dora and Diego, Spongebob, Spiderman and Friends and the Backyardigans, which simply stamp shaped pieces out of the Play-Doh. The playsets retail for $9.99 and the stampers / can toppers retail for $2.99 each.

The packaging on the Play-Doh playset, as stated above, was nothing special but it was brightly colored and marketed specifically towards children familier with the featured character, in this case Dora the Explorer. The picture on the front of the box is pretty disillusioned when you actually open the box and begin to try and create your own characters; however, I think the process itself is fun regardless. The box is easy to open and the individual pieces are packaged neatly in small plastic baggies. There is no frustration in opening the toy nor in putting it together once you figure out what pieces go where…did I mention yet that there are no instructions? That’s right, the gloriously happy girl on the box is the only thing you have to go by when it comes to figuring out how your playset works. Most pieces are simple enough to place on to the base of the playset and it’s common sense that the “background” piece (a flimsy cardboard painted with a jungle backdrop,) fits on to the back of the base. What is not as easy to figure out is exactly how these multiple pieces of plastic work.

As you can see from the video, I had a little bit of trouble figuring out what the palm tree “extruder” was for and it wasn’t until my camera man told me what to do with it that I somewhat figured it out. Maybe i’m just slow when it comes to Play-Doh playsets but if I can’t figure it out at 26, i’m pretty sure a 3 year old would have some trouble as well. So after figuring out how to put together the extruder and putting a wad of the Play-Doh (which incidentally is provided in amazingly cheap quantity…three TINY pots of Play-Doh is just not enough,) I found that the strength needed to use the “extruder” was more than your average twelve year old would have, let alone a three year old. So the “extruder” receives a 0 when it’s rated as a single Play-Doh tool, it’s just not functional enough for a young child to use alone.

Another aspect of this toy that ticked me off slightly was my Dora figure, this small hard, non-flexible, non-moveable, non-interacting piece of plastic didn’t interact with the playset at all. She didn’t even have a spot where she fit in to the playset base, she just stood where she was placed and toppled over each time she was touched briefly when I was molding other pieces of the playset. Not only this but my particular Dora came with a large scratch on her shoe…granted this isn’t a huge deal and could have happened anywhere along the road of “toydom” but it was a little dismaying.

Something I did not get the chance to try, since I didn’t have instructions with the set to tell me to try it, was the three hollow plastic molds. In order to use these molds you have to fit them on to the base of the playset and use the “extruder” to fill the mold with Play-Doh. It wasn’t until I had finished filming and was putting the set away that again my cameraman suggested that perhaps the hole in the top of the molds was so the extruder could fit on top of it and pack it with Play-Doh. Sure it seems simple enough now I know that’s what they’re for but when you don’t have instructions and thing the purpose is simply to pack them full of Doh and see what you get, they’re just not as impressive. Regardless of the fact that I didn’t get to try them they still involve the use of that all so handy “extruder” and so they also receive a low rating.

Overall the Play-Doh Dora the Explorer playset receives a rating of 2 out of 5. The two was earned simply by the Play-Doh product itself and the “book” mold (aka the frog mold that folds in half.) The frog mold was easy to use and created a cute character to use on the playset. Aside from these two really nifty parts the playset itself was not really a toy i’d recommend because of the frustration that will result when your child’s playset does not result in the perfectly created one on the box…which I can guarantee it won’t. The price was good but it is debateable whether the toy was all of it’s money or not worth the money at all, I personally would recommend going with the other Play-Doh “Create” sets such as the confetti maker for $1.99 or the Fun Factory for $4.99 or if you want the more expensive playset go for the Fuzzy Pet Parlor Playset at $9.99. I can guarantee more fun in any of these than you will find in the Dora the Explorer playset.