Review and Giveaway: Mary's Soft Dough CLOSED

Thank you to Terrapin Toys for participating in the Bloggy Birthday Blowout Event on Goodie Goodie Gumdrops!

One of Nate's favorite indoor activities is playing with play dough. It's so nice to have a peaceful activity we can enjoy out of the scorching heat and threatening thunderstorms. But have you ever researched the ingredients for the most popular brand on store shelves? As if the neon colors weren't a dead giveaway that they are questionable. Boric acid? Silicone oil? No thanks. It may be "nontoxic" but it's still not something I want my toddler to ingest. I'd much rather make my own with water, salt and cream of tartar. The problem is that it can be time-consuming to stir and knead in the color and sometimes my dough comes out a bit sticky. So, in my search for natural play dough, I came across Terrapin Toys, the makers of Mary's Soft Dough

Mary's Soft Dough began in 1988 when Mary Newell began selling her homemade modeling dough at the local market in Eugene, Oregon. The original recipe for her dough came from her mom, who acquired it when Mary was a Girl Scout. Since then, her business name has evolved and she has expanded her product line to include scented doughs (including natural scents!), glitter dough - even glow-in-the-dark dough! Mary's Soft Dough is non-crumbly and lasts for up to a year when stored properly.

Mary kindly sent me an assortment of her dough to try, including a Rainbow Tub of her classic solid colors, birthday cake scented dough (for the birthday boy!), eight 2 oz. solid color tubs for party favors and a tool set including fun shape cutters and a wooden dowel for flattening.

In short, I love this play dough! It's not sticky or crumbly. If it is left out and dries out, you can just add a little vegetable oil and it's good as new! The colors are bright without searing your corneas. The dough in the rainbow tub is separated by thin plastic layers so my OCD self can relax about the colors bleeding or mixing. It's also convenient to have just one big container rather than five little ones to store. Nate has a blast using the tool set to flatten the dough and cut shapes like frogs, squirrels, moon, stars, hearts, etc. The night before his birthday, there was a big thunderstorm in our area and he spent over an hour playing with his new dough. I loved watching his imagination soar and to see the masterpieces he could create:

The birthday cake scented dough was simply yummy! I thought it smelled more like cherry cobbler than birthday cake but it was still great. Nate apparently thought so too since he ate a bit of it. I didn't encourage the taste test but since I knew the ingredients were safe, I didn't flip my lid if he happened to take a few tiny bites here and there out of the corner of my eye.

Nate's big party will be on August 15th and I know his friends are going to love the Mary's Soft Dough they'll be getting in their favor bags. I can't wait to add the natural Orange Scented dough and the Playful Pink glitter dough to our collection. Okay, so the last one is more for Mommy. But with play dough this cool, I can't help but join in on the fun!

BUY IT: You can purchase the rainbow tub (ARV $9.95), scented dough (ARV $4.25), tool set (ARV $7.95) or browse Mary's amazing line of dough at www.softdough.com. It would make a great birthday gift too!

WIN IT: Mary is generously giving away one large Rainbow tub of her Soft Dough to one lucky reader!

MAIN COURSE (MANDATORY ENTRY): Check out Mary's Soft Dough and tell me another kind of dough that you'd like to try. Remember to please leave your email address in your comment if it isn't visible on your profile to prevent disqualification!

SUGAR ON TOP (BONUS ENTRIES): To maximize your chances of winning, you may do any or all of the following. Be sure to complete the above mandatory entry or your bonus entries will not count! Remember to leave one comment per entry.

1.) Follow my blog and/or subscribe via reader or email. If you already follow and/or subscribe, that counts! (1 entry each)

2.) Follow me and Mary's Soft Dough on Twitter and tweet about this contest. You can do this daily! You may use the following tweet of come up with one of your own:

#Win a rainbow tub of Mary's Soft Dough for hours of natural, fun play from @TerrapinToys and @kris10chumley! Ends 8/17 http://bit.ly/b4BlSf

Just leave a comment with your tweet link. (1 entry per day max)

3.) "Like" Goodie Goodie Gumdrops on Facebook. (1 entry)

4.) Add my Bloggy Birthday Blowout event button to your site and leave a comment with the link to where I can find it. (1 entry)

5.) Add my blog button to your site and comment with the link to where I can find it. (1 entry)

Giveaway will end on August 17, 2010 at 11:59pm EST. Open to U.S. only. Winners will be chosen via Random.org and will have 48 hours to respond to congratulatory email or prize will be forfeited and another winner will be chosen.

Disclaimer: I received the assortment of dough above at no charge from Mary at Terrapin Toys to facilitate my candid review. I was in no other way compensated for this post. The thoughts and opinions expressed in my review are purely mine. Your experience may differ.