Pro-Doh

It's time for the first post in a series!  All of these will be about toys I played with as a child that I want to highlight. In particular, I want to talk about some toys that I never see mentioned online.  I'm starting with Pro-Doh!

Front of the box for the Playful Animals set, which was purchased on
clearance at Toys R Us for $4.99 circa 1997.

From the makers of Play-Doh (so, Hasbro), Pro-Doh existed briefly in the mid-90s (as far as I know).  The premise was that the kit contained white, air-drying clay that you used with a plastic mold to make your own figures. It was white so that you could decorate the figures with markers.

Playful Animals Pro-Doh set mold, creates 6 different figures
 (2 dogs, 2 cats, mouse, and parrot)

You also got a plastic playset scene and a play mat that went with your creations.  There were 3 versions of this kit described on the box.  The other 2 were a house/dollhouse and a castle.

Essentially, Pro-Doh was part toy, part craft. I know I haven't really gotten to talking about some of my other major favorites, like original Littlest Pet Shop, but just take my word for it that figural animal toys are my favorites. So, this set was really perfect. You could create new toys whenever you felt like it...at least, until the Pro-Doh ran out.  Though later I used the mold to make animals out of polymer clay, which you can't color on with markers, but it's certainly more durable and less prone to cracking. This is a really great set and it was definitely worth its clearance price! I'd love to see something like this make a comeback.  

Bonus photo: some of my creations:

I would like to think I've gotten better at coloring since then.