We received Timberdoodle’s Making Animals Air Dough Kit in exchange for an honest review. We LOVED this kit and it occupied my kids for quite some time. Read on to learn more about this air dough kit!
Disclosure: I only recommend products I would use myself and all opinions expressed here are my own. This post contains affiliate links. At no additional cost to you, I may earn a small commission when you buy through the links on this page.
We have officially embarked on our homeschooling journey! In my search for a curriculum that balanced my desire for a STEM-based curriculum that incorporated gameschooling, I found Timberdoodle. It is a faith-based organization that also offers secular curriculum options as well. Their curriculum is robust, creative, and seems to check all of our boxes. So, I joined their blogging team! Which means that I’ll be regularly reviewing products that Timberdoodle carries, as well as reviewing their Kindergarten curriculum kit. I’m incredibly excited about this and can’t wait for you all to learn about Timberdoodle as well!
Making Animals Air Dough Kit is included in Timberdoodle’s second grade curriculum kit.
Timberdoodle’s Making Animals Air Dough Kit
Included in the Making Animals Air Dough Kit:
- 60 individually packaged air dough packets (pretty small packets – about 2inx3in) – 6 packets are glow in the dark (and we tested them, they do lightly glow in the dark).
- 13 different colors of air dough
- 3 tools (that are mostly kid safe)
- 5 sets of googly eyes
- Two instruction booklets: one smaller booklet inside the kit, and another more robust book with 46 different animal creations
First Impressions
The first thing I noticed about the kit is that it’s pretty large. There are A LOT of colors, which are all individually wrapped in small packages. A very colorful, beautiful book was included that had instructions for how to create 46 different animals, all using the same techniques that they teach you at the beginning of the book.
How we used Making Animals Air Dough Kit
The first thing we did was go through the book, learn the techniques at the beginning (making a ball, teardrop and worm), and then select some animals we wanted to make. First we made penguins. My son had an easier time making a 2D shapes at first, but he eventually got the hang of it.
After that, we tried our hand at making kangaroos, which was a little more complicated.
After this, I decided to let them have some open play with the air dough, to make whatever they wanted. Mostly they just wanted to squish it, make balls with it, combine colors, and make some monsters with lots of eyeballs. This was awesome! It’s rare that an activity will keep their attention for longer than 20-30 minutes, and they continued playing with the air dough for over an hour.
They returned to the kit the next day (at their request) and we made some really cute birds. My 5yo was more adept at the techniques the second day, and more capable of making his own creations with minimal help on my part. Our almost 3yo sat still long enough for us to make a chick together, which he was really proud of!
Again, I let them have some open play with the air dough and my 5yo made a snake, and then another monster. My youngest mostly liked combining different colors and making balls. I knew it was a real hit when a friend came over and they wanted him to play with the air dough, too.
I will note that the mini instruction book included in the kit was inside a plastic bag and it was damp and moldy. That went in the trash ASAP. So we didn’t do anything from that instruction book.
Another remark: the dough packets are small, so you might want to open multiple of the same color in order to make a bigger animal.
This really is the lightest, fluffiest dough and it’s VERY fun to play with! Definitely recommend for that reason alone.
Testing the claims on the box:
The box makes some claims about the dough, and I tested them: it didn’t stick to fabric or carpet, unless we got it wet. It really was pretty mess free. Occasionally some dots of dough would make it to the ground, but because they didn’t stick to anything, it was easy to clean up. Definitely easier than play dough! As I said before, we tested the glow-in-the-dark dough and it did lightly glow in our closed pantry. It also says its ages 3+ and my youngest is just under 3 years old, and I think he’s barely old enough to make creations, though I bet younger kids would still enjoy playing with it. The dough did dry overnight, but it still felt soft, though not pliable. It doesn’t harden into a hard clay, which is fine by me because that means the creations are less breakable.
My kids’ reactions:
Me: What did you think of the air dough kit?
Finn (5): It was awesome.
Me: What was your favorite part?
Finn: That I got to build with it.
Me: What was your favorite thing to build?
Finn: the kangaroos
Me: Was there anything you didn’t like about it?
Finn: No, not at all.
My almost 3yo said: (It was) “very special” and that he loved “mixing colors.”
Safe to say, the kids loved it!
Summary of Timberdoodle’s Making Animals Air Dough Kit:
This light, airy dough is super fun to play with and kept my kids very engaged for a long time. Making the creations in the book was fun, though our versions didn’t come close to the real ones, but that was perfectly fine by us! My kids had a ton of fun with open play with this dough – just squishing and squashing it, mixing colors, making their own creations, etc. As far as we could test them, the claims on the box were true. For the price ($37.95) I would hope that this kit would give us multiple play sessions, and it certainly did. The book included is beautiful and will last for a long time after the dough is gone – we’ll be able to use it with other dough or even play dough.
This kit would be perfect as an art add-on to your homeschooling curriculum, or as a fun indoor activity for a super hot or rainy day! To learn more about the kit, or to purchase one, click here: Timberdoodle’s Making Animals Air Dough Kit.
If you’re looking for more summer activity ideas, check out these posts:
5 Tips for a Fun & Easy Summer Schedule
Our favorite Outer Space Activities
Tissue Paper Watermelon Craft for Little Ones
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