Welcome to the Play-Doh Sweet Shoppe world, where kids create the menu. Here you can create lots of colorful, wacky treats without the sweets! When you create with both classic Play-Doh compound and softer, squeezier Play-Doh Plus compound, you can make the most realistic-looking fantasy desserts you can imagine. What crazy treats will you make today?
By Steve Rowley
Our daughters received this as a gift; it's one of many Play-Doh sets we have. The main attraction is an extruder that pumps out ice cream into a spinning cone - voila! TV-commercial worthy play-doh ice cream cone!
The problem is the key feature is that you can make twist cones, by which I mean, you can mix approximately two jars of play-doh plus together and make about two twist cones. Now the play-doh is mixed together and basically useless. This amounts to about 90 seconds of fun per two jars of play-doh.
The set comes with three jars. I'm sure this is a big money-maker for the manufacturer as the parents of disappointed children buy more play-doh to waste on this ridiculous thing. Even as a gift it would have cost us a ton if I didn't throw it away after that supremely annoying 90 seconds was over.
By Joel L. Watts
I always wanted something like when I was a kid. I was lucky to get play-doh, the real stuff, but was usually stuck with flour and food coloring.
However, this toy is pretty darn awesome. It comes with five different colors -- all brightly colored to mimic what ice cream I guess looks like when you get it from an ice cream parlor.
It is highly durable. My 3 year old and 9 year old have wrestled with it for a few weeks now and it hasn't broke. The pieces aren't even loose.
It was easy to assemble, with much of it already assembled.
It is easy to operate with no learning curve or instructions needed. Maybe my 3 year old is exceptional, and what parent doesn't like to think that way, but she doesn't really need oversight on this. It is a great toy, with not a lot of small parts, or tough maneuvers to figure out.
As far as clean-up, my wife usually mutters "I hate play-doh" about once a day, but that is play-doh and it is also a sign of how often my children play with the toy.
By N. Sholomova
My son wanted this ice cream maker for quite some time so grandma bought him one. First, the device is not as big as you think it would be. Ice cream cups are TINY. But seems the boy does not care, which is a plus. Second, the space between the cup (when put in the space below the ice cream maker) and the place where ice cream is coming out is not wide/big enough. One ice cream in the cup it'w hard to yank the cup out. But again, kid does not seem to mind.
Third, the lever to use when making ice cream is not tough enough. Kid uses force to operate it, and I see it breaking any time (but has not broken yet). My biggest beef is that the box says play doh is some special "doh plus" kind, which you would think be something that would not crumble easily, etc. Nope, made quite a mess the very first time my son used it. And lastly, I see it sells here on amazon for $51 - definitely not worth it. Asked grandma what she paid for it and she said Target had it for $14.99.
That I can handle. Overall my son is happy and plays with it a lot. I did purchase a set of regular play doh, which is a bit harder to work with in the machine, but it's not as messy. I will recommend this toy because clearly it;s fun for the kids. Tip - use on the table or put a vinyl tablecloth on the floor if you use play doh that's included, otherwise you'll be cleaning your carpet and rugs for an hour like I did the first time.
By Heather
I can sit for house with my toddler and play with this play dough set. The play dough is nice to play with as long as you keep the lid on the containers. As for the rest of the set it was quite easy to put together however the blue twister sprinkle maker gets jammed as shakes everywhere when you try to use it.
The middle spout to pour the ice cream topples all over the place and it makes the "ice cream" way too big for the cones. My tot and I use it just to make fun shapes as there are little cute shapes all over the ice cream maker. Even on the top! Other than the few minor issues this is pretty fun.
By BlueMamaOhio
My kids wanted this and cookie set so badly for christmas. So of course we bought them. Even with our assistance our 3 year old had trouble. It is pretty hard to use and certainly cannot be set up and played independently as our other play doh tools can - like cookie cutters, rolling pins, stamps, letters etc.
By S. K. Harrell (NC)
I'd give this four stars only because our daughter loves it, and is fairly blind to its shortcomings. She's four, and has a great time with it.
That said, it deserves three stars. It's hard to put together, the handle is very hard for a child to operate alone--meaning, an adult will most likely have to participate--and the thing is just way more complicated than it needs to be. The directions pretty much come down to look at the box image and assembling it the best you can.
It comes with two types of Play-Doh, one that is soft, and another that is more stiff.The softer ones are to run through the "icecream maker" and "sprinkler maker," while the stiffer ones are for pressing into the various molds on the base of the machine. That's where this toy jumps the shark. It's the molds are so small that it's virtually impossible to create the molds without destroying them trying to peel them from the machine. An artfully inclined adult can do it with patience, but a child is not likely to ever make use of the molds. At best, they are going to be receptacles for dried wads of Play-Doh.
Most of the amenities of this set are not at all. They just seem to be tacked on plastic parts that were leftover. A cone holder connects to the side, while a can holder attaches to the back. Pointless, really.
Because of its limitations and virtual impossibility of it ever being properly cleaned out, I don't expect this set to remain high on our daughter's list for long. It's definitely pretty low on mine, and I don't recommend it.
.jpg)
.jpg)
