My daughter who is three years old will sit quietly and watch these play-doh videos until I scoop her up to get her away from them! They are very educational and soothing and fun and she just loves them. I think they are very popular right now.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChS_SeRcbIZyfuZfNDMy5vQ

Children's scissors for cutting play dough.

Cars for making "tracks" on rolled out play dough.

"Hiding" mini treasures (gems, etc) in play dough for child to find.

Textured rolling pins.

2 colors of play dough. Have child mix mix them together to see what colors it makes.

They have these plastic tubes...press the play dough down w/ the compressor---and a shape appears (almost like drop cookies.)

White play dough. Add a drop of food coloring in the middle. Have child squish it until the color appears and makes all of the play dough that color.

White play dough. Provide "accessories" for making a "snowman." (AC Moore or Michaels.)

Anonymous wrote:ps: DO NOT simply type "fun factory" into an Amazon search engine with your child present...unless you want to give a quick lesson to him/her on adult bedroom toys.

--The OP

well, he has to learn some time.

My BiL bought this huge keg-like thing of accessories that was great. Sorry I don't know the name. Stick with things you can tell are "tools" that are easy to use.

What to stay away from - is anything that is double-branded as Playdoh and something TV related. My other BIL bought something that was Playdoh and Backyardigans....or something like that....and it was a piece of junk. We threw it out in a week. Even my son (who was around 3 at the time) agreed it was a piece of junk.

The confetti maker looks like it would be my mortal enemy (think small pieces of playdoh in your carpet).

Also, while I know you are looking for tools, my son was highly entertained by home-made playdoh. Just google the recipe. He loved measuring the ingredients and then playing with it afterwards.

My 3.5 year old boy LOVES the ice cream maker. Loves it.

Anonymous wrote:My kids love this set: http://www.amazon.com/Play-Doh-Supermarket-Store-Accessories-Hasbro/dp/B00ADVFHIG. It has a little bit of everything, including the squeezer stuff. We bought it far cheaper on black Friday one year.

Looks like it is Target branded. I'm such an online shopper these days I forget you can walk into an actual store to buy something! Thanks!

Anonymous wrote:Plastic knife, cookie cutters, a straw

OP here. We use all these and more...all my cake decorating tools, rolling pins of all sizes, cups, shells, rocks, stamps, even glitter...but my question was specifically about the PlayDoh brand sets and if they are worth the cost. Thanks anyway though.

The swiss army tool in this set is literally my son's best friend:

http://www.amazon.com/Hasbro-22769-Play-Doh-Toolin-Playset/dp/B000ZZZ7RQ/ref=pd_sbs_t_1

Well worth the cost!

Plastic knife, cookie cutters, a straw

My kids love this set: http://www.amazon.com/Play-Doh-Supermarket-Store-Accessories-Hasbro/dp/B00ADVFHIG. It has a little bit of everything, including the squeezer stuff. We bought it far cheaper on black Friday one year.

ps: DO NOT simply type "fun factory" into an Amazon search engine with your child present...unless you want to give a quick lesson to him/her on adult bedroom toys.

--The OP

Thanks! And my son is the same way with turning it all into food so perhaps the other things would be wasted on him. I may put a call out on a local listserv to see if anyone has any old sets they are willing to part with. Who knows what I made unearth?!

I agree that the fun factory squisher thing is the way to go. That's the hot item when we pull out the playdoh toys, with some other accessories that let you squish playdoh through a hole being second best.

My boys also like the transfomers autobot workshop, although I find it pretty lame. The new trucks line gets pretty good reviews on Amazon too.

The fun factory one. I think that's what it's called. I got it from a consignment sale, so I'm not sure. But it's the press thing that makes spaghetti noodles. My son spends crazy amounts of time making pasta. Just mounds and mounds of pasta.

And my kids - both boys - don't do anything with play-doh but make play food. We have a few of the play-doh trucks that make roads or bricks or construction equipment, but those are not used. What are used are the real cookie cutters that I gave them, and real spatulas and real spoons.

My son is currently having a love affair with PlayDoh these days. He's three so any time I can get him to play QUIETLY by himself is a blessing so I'm searching for a few more accessories to add to the mix. I looked online and there's a lot of PlayDoh brand sets out there (ice cream maker, dentist, etc.) but not sure which ones are worth it...and which ones are junk. Any recs?