Team Mom Review: Moon Dough Barnyard Play Set

What a ball – of Moon Dough – we had! We were sent the Barn play set to review thanks to Team Mom. Due to an unexpected thunderstorm, we were stuck in the house for a portion of the day. Patience was running low for both Mariah and me. When the storm cleared, we headed outdoors to test out the Moon Dough. That was the best decision I could have made all day.

Moon Dough (for ages 2-4) is an amazing new molding compound unlike anything you’ve seen before! Moon Dough is soft and marshmallow-like, cleans up easily, and never dries out, so you can use it again and again. It’s also hypo-allergenic and wheat-free.

We opened the box and laid out all our contents. The Moon Dough Barnyard is one of many play sets available. You can also choose from the Moon Dough Pizza Shop, Doghouse, and Burger Shop. Setting up the Barnyard was simple. Even Mariah was able to help. It came with 3 Moon Dough packs – blue, yellow, and white. There are eight great colors in all including green, orange, purple, red, and pink.

What I like about the Moon Dough Barnyard:

Softness. The Moon Dough is so soft on the hands. It’s almost like running your hands through powder.
Molds. Mariah was excited to fill up each mold and watch as her creation popped out. Even better were the 3D animals. It was really simple for her at the age of 3.
Catcher. On the side of the barn, there is a catcher for all of the excess Moon Dough that spills from the crank. This is a great way to preserve anything that falls and helps with the clean up.
Price/Value. At $19.99, the Moon Dough Barnyard set is reasonably prices. You get Magical Molding Barnyard, fence and hay bale molds, four unique animal molds, a themed play mat, and three colors of Moon Dough.

What I did not like about the Moon Dough Barnyard:

Messy. Thank goodness we chose outdoors to try this toy. There was Moon Dough everywhere, even on Mariah. We lost a lot of it to the ground.
Softness. This is a blessing and a curse. Because it is so soft, it crumbles easily and sometimes destroys your creations when playing. Just be gentle when playing with the Moon Dough.
Mixing. We found it difficult to keep the colors separate once we begin to play. Children are easily tempted to mix the colors. Once mixed, they must stay that way. I must say, the marble look was pretty cool.

Overall, Moon Dough was exciting, refreshing, and a unique experience. It liked the idea that it never dries up. Even though we made a huge mess, it was fairly easy to just sweep away the excess with a hand. It's hard to compare Moon Dough to the classic Play-doh. They are completely different products. Although it will take some mastering of Moon Dough to prevent a mess, it does make a great addition to your child’s creative play. I would purchase it for the cool 3D creations alone. Even I enjoyed turning the crank and watching the animals go down the barnyard ramp. The Moon Dough play sets would be enough entertainment and very pleasing for a child ages 2-4.

For more information, visit http://www.moondough.com. Follow on Twitter and on Facebook. You can purchase your Moon Dough at Toys “R” Us, Target, Walmart, Kmart, Amazon.com, A.C. Moore, Michaels, and eToys.

Disclosure: “I was provided the product to facilitate my review thanks to Moon Dough and Team Mom (Child’s Play PR). I did not receive monetary compensation for writing this post. All opinions expressed are my own.”