Every child has played with it, and every child has eaten it, but the history of Play-Doh may surprise you. After all, it's not like someone walked into a pitch meeting one day and said "You know what the kids like? Colored goop," and suddenly a toy company had a million-dollar idea on their hands. In fact, Play-Doh was originally created for a much more boring and practical purpose. However, when it started being marketed to kids, it was a hit, and now they're even discussing making a movie about it. Let's take a look at the truth about why Play-Doh was created.
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00:00Play-Doh is many things. It's secretly delicious. It's doomed from the start to get mixed into a
00:05gross brown lump. It's inexplicably getting its own movie. But how and why was it even created
00:11in the first place? The rainbow-hued children's modeling compound has been an intrinsic aspect
00:15of American youth for just about as far back as anyone can remember, but not everyone knows who
00:20invented it or why. The strange goo that is Play-Doh may seem like an accidental invention
00:24that somebody lucked out with, and that's because it was. It turns out that Play-Doh
00:28wasn't the result of tireless hours spent trying to create the perfect product for kids.
00:32The truth is actually much more random.
00:35Back in the 1930s, people were apparently looking for a reliable way to clean dirt and
00:39coal residue off of their wallpaper. Luckily for them, there was Cuttle non-crumbly type
00:43wall cleaner, the non-toxic substance people could count on to get their walls looking all slick and
00:47new again. However, as the years rolled by, newer and easier-to-clean wall coverings made out of
00:51vinyl were created, and Cuttle's sales sadly took a nosedive. But then, thanks to the entrepreneurial
00:57spirit of a New Jersey school teacher named Kay Zufall, Cuttle found a second life as an
01:01easy-to-manipulate modeling clay for preschool students. As luck would have it, Zufall's
01:05brother-in-law Joseph McVicker was one of the guys in charge of manufacturing the wallpaper cleaner,
01:09and he was more than happy to squeeze some new life out of the stuff, according to NJ.com.
01:14Colors were added, the product was rebranded, and Play-Doh was born.
01:18So Kay Zufall discovered that her little kids liked squeezing the goo a lot more than hard
01:24modeling clay. Since then, Play-Doh has become a staple of playrooms and kindergarten classes
01:28around the world. USA Today reports that Hasbro sells over 100 million tubs of the gunk annually,
01:34and that more than 700 million pounds of Play-Doh have been created. That explains
01:38why there's even a National Play-Doh Day, celebrated every September 16th.
01:42Basically, the world can't get enough of Play-Doh.
01:45Oh, thank you, Play-Doh!
01:46And as with any runaway success that is distracting children and giving parents
01:50everywhere five minutes to themselves, Play-Doh may soon be taken to the red carpet,
01:54which will be impossible to clean afterwards. In 2015, it was reported that Hasbro was in
01:59talks with writer and director Paul Feig to create a Play-Doh movie, causing skeptics the
02:03world over to angrily mumble that they were wrong about the Lego movie while repeating
02:07the breathing exercises their therapist recommended. Things have been quiet on the
02:10Hollywood front since then, possibly due to Feig's all-female Ghostbusters reboot stumbling
02:14out of the gate, but you never know, a Play-Doh movie could still materialize.
02:18Maybe a feature-length film about a multi-colored,
02:21wallpaper-cleaning compound is just what the world needs in a post-superhero fatigue environment.
02:25And if you're not already overloaded enough with Play-Doh facts, it's worth mentioning
02:29that the non-toxic label on the sides of those bright yellow cylinders isn't necessarily
02:33something you want to test out. In tragic news for anyone feeling a little hungry,
02:37Play-Doh isn't what you'd call a superfood, as reported by The Daily Meal. Unfortunately,
02:42the exact recipe for Play-Doh is a trade secret, but we know that it's mostly made up of wheat
02:46flour, salt, and water, thanks to the Play-Doh website. A 2004 patent also reveals that it
02:51contains what's called a retrogradation inhibitor, mineral oil, preservatives, a hardener, fragrance,
02:56coloring, a petroleum additive for a smooth feel, and borax, which prevents mold.
03:00While it won't make you any sicker than your most fast-food dishes,
03:03eating the stuff won't do you any favors, either — apart from when it comes to bragging rights.
03:07As The Daily Meal noted,
03:09Producer Hasbro maintains that the product is non-toxic, and that the only real danger
03:13in Play-Doh is to pets or those especially sensitive to sodium from the high salt content.
03:18What might surprise you, however, is the list of benefits that playing with the
03:21gloop reportedly has with regard to early childhood development.
03:24According to a study published by Michigan State University,
03:27children who spend time messing around with Play-Doh apparently develop better
03:30fine motor functions and creative capabilities,
03:33meaning the product is much more impressive than its squiggy appearance might suggest.