I spent the majority of my childhood playing with three different toys; Legos, Barbies, and Play-Doh. Monday, Sept. 16, was national Play-Doh day, and how did I spend it? Appreciating the colorful modeling compound that made my childhood amazing.

There were so many different colors of Play-Doh, and so many fun ways to shape and mold it; it was a reusable, multifunctional toy; you can even consider it a child’s version of a stress ball, which is probably why kids are so stress-free, instead of the hard foam rubber in an actual adult’s stress ball, they have fun moldable clay to relieve their frustration.

One of the only downsides to Play-Doh was that once you mixed the colors, they were irreversibly morphed into a new, less desirable, color. However, this only made it more exciting when my mom or dad came home with a new box of Play-Doh colors. There were the basic primary colors; red, yellow, and blue. Then your secondary colors; purple, orange, and green, that were essential, because while art class taught you that when you mix yellow and blue you get green, this is not true for Play-Doh. And, most importantly, the exciting neon colors.

Another downside, for my parents, was that it dried up and went bad. If the top was so much as cracked open for more than 24 hours, it would harden into a brick that was totally unusable. As a child, this is scaring, and since we weren’t exactly as responsible back then, this happened frequently, which meant my parents had to buy even more new containers of Play-Doh.

I can remember all the different accessories I had for my Play-Doh. I had the hair dressers salon, which allowed me to style plastic dolls spaghetti string hair that what was made by pushing a chuck of Play-Doh through a strainer tool. I had different shape stencils and The Fun Factory that made various cutouts. I had the dentist accessory, even though I hate the dentist’s office, and I even had a McDonald’s restaurant accessory, where you could make foods such as a hamburger and fries.

Aside from all these cool accessories, Play-Doh is entertaining in itself. You can just mush and morph in your hands, roll it in a ball or flatten it like a pancake. I think my favorite thing to do was just make different animals and shapes out of the Doh without any accessories at all; sorry mom and dad, I now realize the accessories cost more than the Play-Doh its self.

Play-Doh has one of the most distinct smells. I can’t say I like, or dislike, the smell, but it is unique and reminds me of my childhood. Some things have triggered the association to Play-Doh, but I am not sure it does any more than that; remind me of it, because nothing is exactly equivalent. I think that the reason the smell lingers so fresh in my mind, is because as a child Play-Doh so easily, and frequently, got under my nails, so the smell would follow me around, reminding me that I had played with Play-Doh since my last bubble bath.

For some brief history, Play-Doh is composed of flour, water, salt, boric acid, and mineral oil. It was first manufactured in Cincinnati, OH, U.S., as wallpaper cleaner in the 1930s. When a classroom of children began using the wallpaper cleaner as a modeling compound, the product was reworked and marketed to Cincinnati schools in the mid-1950s. Play-Doh was demonstrated at an educational convention in 1956 and department stores started selling it. Since its launch on the toy market in the mid-1950s, Play-Doh has generated a considerable amount of accessory merchandise. The Toy Industry Association named Play-Doh in its Century of Toys List.

Although I have not played with Play-Doh recently, in attempts to rediscover my childhood, I will be sure to pick up a pack the next time I go to a toy store, maybe even a pack for my parents.