Djeco Funny Faces Modeling Dough Review

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Modeling dough is a simple and creative way to help kids practice fine motor skills and increase cognitive skills. We tried out the Djeco Funny Faces Modeling Dough Kit. Here’s what we thought.

Recommended for ages 3-6, the Djeco Funny Faces Modeling Dough kit is creative, silly, and fun for kids and parents to do together. My Pre-K daughter has enjoyed using her imagination and we’ve shared a lot of laughs with this kit.

What is Funny Faces Modeling Dough?

When you need some lighthearted fun, Djeco Funny Faces delivers. The kit includes 8 thick, glossy picture card designs, 4 colors of modeling dough (yellow, orange, dark blue, and red), 1 spatula, and 1 instruction booklet.

Each picture card features a colorful picture with gray lines indicating the recommended shape to make out of modeling clay. Shapes include different length lines and circles that practice fine motor skills but in the shaping of the dough, and also in the placement on the cards. The variety of lines help children place them in straight lines, slanted, curved, and wavy positions.

Modeling Dough Skills

The cards and instructions help children to use their fingers to roll dough into pencil-like lines, press down balls into circles, and use the spatula to cut lines to the suggested length.

We enjoyed the engaging pictures on the cards and used them as conversation starters for discussing creativity, storytelling, illustrating, and artistic imagination. Laughs were had as we giggled over questions like “Do ladybugs read books?” and “Do spiders wear shoes?”.

In addition to the fine motor skills, we also talked about colors, counted the numbers of eyes/shoes/spots, and discussed examples of opposites: thick, thin, and big, small. Our family enjoys using all types of creative art forms, and this kit was a hit!

What We Love About Modeling Dough

We’ve used Djeco art kits before and enjoyed them. (Our review of Scratch Art is here). This was our first time using their modeling dough. I’ve found that their materials are durable, cute, engaging, and high-quality.

The glossy cards are designed for the modeling dough to be easily removed with minimal mess. If residue does remain, they are easy to wipe off with a moist cloth or paper towel.

My four-year-old daughter squealed with delight as I laid out the picture cards and she eagerly selected her first choice–the funky zebra. We laughed at the pink mane and blue boots. At first, she was upset that the modeling dough was dark blue and not black, but I explained that the color of the stripes needed to match the boots, and she was appeased.

The first time she used the dough, she was upset at how sticky the dough was, but I encouraged her to keep trying and she got used to it after a few tries. She made a few lines for the zebra, then decided she would rather do her own thing.

We introduced this activity at our homeschool co-op the next week and the kids did a variety of things with the dough.

My daughter is a free spirit and enjoys creating outside the box. Let’s just say she put a whole new twist on these critters…

But even the funky zebra was pleased with his red fur coat! All kidding aside, I encourage her to express herself in art, so after showing her how to do things by the book, she was free to make other choices.

The nice thing is that the gray lines are pretty easy for kids to understand, so other children picked it up quickly without much instruction.

This is a great kit that’s easy to store in the box and can be minimal mess (if you’re there to contain it!).

What We Didn’t Love About Modeling Dough

The smell of the modeling dough is similar to playdough, but with a slightly more sweet scent (at least to my nose!). It was pretty potent to me when we opened the box. It doesn’t bother me too much, but if you’re sensitive to the smell of playdough or other modeling doughs, be aware that these do smell.

We found the modeling dough to be more sticky than traditional playdough. This is not something you want stuck in your carpet. We combatted this by keeping it on her plastic table or a small art mat. However, a few times I did find pieces on the floor and thankfully I found them before they had dried in.

Once I found a piece that had been left out and it was indeed dried out, as would be expected. I appreciate that the containers are airtight and they seem to preserve the dough well.

Final Thoughts on Djeco Funny Faces Modeling Dough

We have enjoyed the funny faces modeling dough, and it’s been a nice alternative to the typical playdough experience in our home. It’s a simple activity to store and bring out on occasion for new-found fun. I’m a big believer in making learning fun, and the joy of sitting back and watching my daughter’s eyes light up as she molds and creates with these creatures is truly a blessing!