DIY Electro-Dough Kit {Timberdoodle Product Review}

I am sure that my boys are just like your children when it comes to playdough. They just LOVE it and will spend over an hour making all their creations with it if I let them. My boys also have a great love of science. When we received the DIY Electro-Dough Kit from Timberdoodle to review, I quickly saw that this could a blending of two of their favorite things, and I looked forward to trying it out.

About the DIT Electro Dough Kit

The DIY Electro-Dough Kit is part of the 2016 First Grade Curriculum Kit from Timberdoodle. The kit includes: a Battery Holder, Buzzer, 6 Crocodile Clips, 3 Dough Cutters, 10 Jumper Wires, 10 Green LEDs, 10 Red LEDs, and 2 Tilt switches. Four AA batteries will be needed, and the homemade dough will need to be made. The kit is geared for ages 4+ and retails at $27.  
What makes this dough special? Well, if you follow the recipe included with the kit, your playdough will become conductive to electricity! This will bring hours of fun as your child explores the different circuits they can make with the supplies provided in the kit. There is also an instruction/guide book included with the kit to give you ideas on how to put your dough to the test. Timberdoodle will also provide a FREE 10 week guide to using your electro dough kit to learn about circuits, which includes a different recipe than what comes with the kit--one that Timberdoodle has had more success with.

How Did We Use the DIY Electro-Dough Kit?

As soon as this came, I knew my boys were going to love, AND that I wanted to save it for a special project they could do with my dad (Papa). He loves doing science with them and this was the perfect activity for them to explore. I used the Timberdoodle recipe for our playdough, and colored it green per request. Once it was ready, I handed the dough and the kit to my dad and he began his exploration with the boys.

My Baby Britches stayed right by him and handed him things to try and just loved the time with Papa as they tried different things.

They started with just seeing if they can make some of the bulbs light up--they tried different tricks and then it worked!
Here is a video of using the buzzer:

Learning about when to use a tilt switch:

We tried several of the experiments and it kept them busy for at least an hour! When it was done, we just boxed back up all the components to use again next time.

What Are Our Thoughts on the DIY Electro-Dough Kit?

All in all, I think it is a great asset to any classroom or homeschool. It is very cool to use the playdough to conduct the electricity and I can see us changing up the ingredients to make it different levels of conduction. The boys also learned that size matters when it came to how big a piece needed to be to work. 

My dad gives this set two thumbs up, although he did get frustrated at our LED bulbs burning out several times. Fortunately, those are fairly easy to replace. He also talked about how it would be easy to add other components as desired to take it further. 

I appreciated the the recipe for the playdough didn't include anything I didn't already have and it's non-toxic. It definitely adds another element to them playing with playdough. 

Would We Recommend This Kit?

Yes! I think as a family we give this kit two thumbs up and I know that we will be pulling it out off and on throughout the year to explore more deeply. I'd love to give my mechanic husband a chance to explore it with the boys. I know he would have even more ideas than my dad did.

If you are looking for a simple, yet very interesting science component to add to your early elementary science, check out the DIY Electro-Dough Kit! It's a great combination of the best of the fun of playdough and the excitement of circuits!