National Play-Doh Day 2023: Date, History, Facts about Play-Doh

National Play-Doh Day is annually observed on September 16. This day is in honour of everyone’s favourite childhood toy: Play-Doh! Calling all former and current Play-Doh fans to recall the small, yellow box of colourful, squishy joy.

The background of National Play-Doh Day

Play-Doh is one of the most well-known and extensively utilised children’s toys in the world. However, it was not intended for minors at first. It was intended as wallpaper cleanser!

Cleo McVicker and his brother Noah created a non-toxic, moldable wallpaper cleanser formula for Kutol Products in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1933. Many homes converted to oil and gas furnaces after World War II, eliminating the need for wallpaper cleansers. When Cleo McVicker passed away, his son Joseph struggled to keep the company viable as demand continued to decline.

In 1955, McVicker’s sister-in-law and schoolteacher Kay Zufall suggested marketing and retailing the product as arts and crafts and playthings. She demonstrated how her pupils sculpted this clay into works of art and persuaded him to market the product with a fresh perspective. McVicker began selling Play-Doh to elementary school students under the name Rainbow Crafts Company Inc., a division of Kutol Products. The fact that Bob Keeshan, also known as Captain Kangaroo, featured Play-Doh on the most popular children’s television programme once a week is what made Play-Doh an overnight sensation. Play-Doh’s sales skyrocketed, making it a ubiquitous name; the rest is history. What began as a basic wallpaper cleaner became available in multiple colours with its own accessories and was quickly acquired by Hasbro, which continues to sell the product today.

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5 PLAY-DOH FACTS THAT WILL BLOW YOUR MIND

Hasbro collaborated with Demeter Fragrance Library to create a Play-Doh fragrance for its 50th anniversary.

In the past, when technology was less sophisticated, a Play-Doh replica of a human finger could fool 90% of fingerprint scanners into believing it was an accurate impression.

In 2016, Hasbro released an app that allows children to transform their Play-Doh creations into animated characters.

Play-Doh had a 20-year run even as a wallpaper cleanser, despite the fact that its true calling was in the world of crafts and play.

The National Toy Hall of Fame at the Strong National Museum of Play in New York inducted Play-Doh in 1998.

NATIONAL PLAY-DOH DAY DATES