Great toy for parties or airplanes
Written: Oct 25 '02
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Pros: Combination Toy and Arts/Craft. Provided endless hours of fun
Cons: Needs to be stored properly to prevent drying out.
The Bottom Line: If your kids like playdoh, it adds another dimension because you can color it. The end result air-dries for something that can be permanently displayed.
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| Uncle_Tippet's Full Review: Crayola Model Magic 7 Color Variety Pack |
We were introduced to the Crayola Model Magic line when we visited the Crayola factory and our kids fell in love with it. My son has problems with fine motor skills and his OT recommends that he use his hands more and this toy keeps him interested in using his fingers. My daughter simply loves coloring it and making little shapes.
What is Model Magic?
The Model Magic line is a clay like modeling material that anyone can use to create colorful art. It then dries out into something hard that can be painted.
Why not PlayDoh?
What's the difference between Crayola Model Magic and Playdoh or regular clay? Isn't Playdoh a lot cheaper?
The Crayola Model Magic set is a lot like regular clay or Playdoh but there are several important differences. Regular clay is often hard to manipulate especially for smaller hands. Model Magic is a lot softer and is a lot like a marshmallow in texture. This makes it easier for younger kids to tear it apart and make various shapes. When it dries out (in about 24 hours); it hardens into something foam like. Clay does not harden unless you bake it and the texture is a lot different.
Playdoh is also easily manipulated, but does not dry out as nicely. Dried out playdoh is disgusting whereas the model magic material dries out into something that's prettier.
Finally, Playdoh is not something that can be easily colored. Crayola Model Magic can be easily colored with a washable marker or paint.
Benefits
The big benefit is the ability to color the material. As such, I actually like buying simple white even though they do come in various colors. This way, my kids can decide what colors they want. To color the clay, they simply use a washable marker to ink the material and then start kneading it like bread-dough. The ink is absorbed by the material and turns it into a very pleasant color.
The combination of making shapes as well as coloring make it a nice "combo" type of play. They can choose different colors as well as make different shapes and combine them together in any way they want.
Field Testing
The Model Magic was field tested during a 5 hour plane flight from NYC to San Francisco. It held up very well because we could use the seat tray to work with. We had the kids rolling the dough on the tray and a plastic bag containing markets that they used.
My daughter colored the dough orange and rolled it into a ball. Then poked holes in it to make a jack-o-lantern. She finally stuck it on the end of a pencil and and waited for it to dry.
My son flattened it and decided to make a map of the United States. He had to peel off some ends to make Alaska and Hawaii. Then decided to color everything green and brown.
All in all, they spent over an hour on this activity using one doughnut hole sized clay.
Important Facts
The material is non-toxic. The white material doesn't seem to leave any stains but it could stick if you press the material flat (as my son discovered trying to remove the flattened US map from the seat back). However, it didn't seem to stick to figures or other materials if you didn't press it flat. The material could stain if you're using the colored model magic dough. But it actually picked up color -- my kids loved coloring the tray table with washable marker and picking up the color by rolling the material over it.
The material starts drying out in about 4-5 hours and it takes about 24 hours to fully dry out so you need to put it in a safe place to prevent "accidents".
I think the material flammable so the instructions tell you not to use it to model something that would come into contact with heat (e.g. candleholder). And you definitely should not bake it like clay. It's supposed to air-dry only.
Conclusion
All in all, this is something that we will definitely bring on our next plane trip as well as an activity that can be done as a fun activity in our next birthday party. Crayola recommends this for Ages 5 and up but my 4 year old daughter enjoyed it too.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 10
Type of Toy: Arts and Crafts
Age Range of Child: 6 to 8 Years
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Epinions.com ID:
Uncle_Tippet
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Member: Avon Leong
Location: SF Bay Area, CA
Reviews written: 78
Trusted by: 10 members
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