The 50 Year History of Play-Doh

tanagra writes "50 years ago U.S. Patent No. 3,167,440 was granted to Noah McVicker and Joseph McVicker for a "plastic modeling composition", (which was originally intended to be a wallpaper cleaner) now called Play-Doh. Little did they know that they had created the substance of childhood memories as well as many a childhood meal, unfortunately. Play-Doh persists as one of the most well known and popular children's "toys". As you attempt to clean your children's Play-Doh out of the carpet, the car, and the bathtub; take a look back with us at how it all got started."

Comments

50 years?

[teebob21]

You know, if that stuff has really been around that long, the least they could do now is make it taste better.

I'll stick with paste anyday.

Re:50 years?

[physicsphairy]

As a veritable connoisseur of things that should not be eaten, I vouch that Playdoh is pretty high up there for initial taste. It has a bit too much salt, however, and one can only eat so much of it before the after taste becomes perpetual. Most pastes suffer from this problem also. The big problem with pastes is texture: they are hard to chew and hard to get down.

What I recommend most is sillyputty. Granted, is not all that flavorful, but you can consistently eat much more of it than either playdoh or paste and it generally doesn't leave a bad aftertaste.

The new cornstarch based packing peanuts make an excellent side dish. You can wrap them in notebook paper to make a semi-palatable burrito. (Typing paper has bit too much chemical additives. And NEVER EVER EVER EVER eat receipt paper. It's just nasty.)

And if you REALLY love the doh!

[Rayston]

or you have SO that does.

http://www.boingboing.net/2006/05/03/playdoh_scent ed_colo.html

cologne that smells like playdoh.

shapes

[nodnarb1978]

I remember quickly getting bored with the default shapes thingee you made by mashing the dough through this big plastic doohickey.

I remember eschewing this tool in favor of jury-rigging my own shapes.

Twenty-five years later, I do the same thing with photoshop.

Progress?

Business Plan:

[AlexanderDitto]

1. Create Wallpaper Cleaner 2. ??? 3. Profit!

Recipes

[zymano]

Home Made 'Play - Doh'

Ingredients

        * 2 cups plain flour
        * 1 cup salt
        * 2 cups water
        * 4 teaspoons cream of tartar
        * 2 tablespoons cooking oil
        * food colouring

Method

        * Mix ingredients in a pan and stir while heating gently
        * When dough is formed tip out and cool on grease proof paper
        * When cool kneed until smooth
        * Store in airtight container in a cool place

Another recipe. Including Silly Putty recipe. Hmmm
http://k2.kirtland.cc.mi.us/~balbachl/kidrecip.htm

Glad to see this on slashdot!

[lawpoop]

I'm sick and tired of all those slashdot articles that extol the virtues of Legos in a child's intellectual development, and how it trained generations of engineers, architects and programmers to think logically, discretely, and modularly.

Finally, we give praise to the medium that created all of us Liberal Arts majors: Play-Doh. Folks, it doesn't get any fuzzier than this stuff. There is no formula, design, or strategy. Anything you make can be anything you want; a bird is a blob is a bunny. Anything goes -- nobody can say you are wrong. Take your masterpiece and pinch it here and there and its totally different. What an exercise in hermeneutical phenomology! It's everything yet nothing at once! Take all the colors, mix them together, and you get a wonderful, muddied brown. Who can argue with that?

Re:Glad to see this on slashdot!

[jamesh]

Actually, it was the brain damage sustained from the buildup of toxins accumulated from repeated ingestion of Play Doh that made you liberal arts majors.

(runs and ducks for cover :)