When I was sent a Skwooshi Activity Set to review I didn't expect it to be very much different to the modelling materials my kids had played with in the past. Don't get me wrong, I would have been quite happy with that. We all love squishing, squashing and rolling.
Skwooshi satisfied all our squishing, squashing and rolling desires but also gave us the Skwooshi Effect. More about that later.
The set we were sent contained 3 x 2oz pots of the Skwooshi compound along with a variety of activity tools all in packaging that looked like it had been squished in slightly at the sides.
The tools were brightly coloured and interesting. My little ones played happily with them for quite some time on their own before we opened the pots of Skwooshi...
...which themselves were nicely quirky.
The Skwooshi compound was soft and squishable straight from the pot but less vibrantly coloured than other modelling materials we were familiar with. This lack of vibrancy was forgiven instantly when we discovered the Skwooshi effect.
The kids had great fun rolling and stamping and cutting and everything else you'd expect from a modelling material...
...but when you pulled it, something weird happened. I tried and failed to capture in a photograph exactly what this weirdness involved.
I'm not sure that words are really adequate either. My daughter described it as like cake and it was true that there was a sponginess to it. My husband said it reminded him of wet sand. It would have to be the finest, softest sand for this to be true. For me, the closest I could get to describing the phenomenon was somewhere between magnetised iron filings and candy floss. This was the Skwooshi effect. The compound went from a pliable solid to something that seemed to flow - not quite liquid, not quite a granular solid. It was.... sort of 'Skwooshi' really! It was definitely strange and intriguing and eminently tactile. I loved it.
The kids enjoyed experimenting with mixing the colours and creating beautiful marbled designs which sadly means that much of our Skwooshi compound has now merged into a dull brown colour. Even dull and brown that Skwooshi effect transforms it into something magical.
The inevitable 'bits that dropped onto the floor' swept up easily lending weight to the Skwooshi 'mess free' claim and despite much handling, showed no signs of drying out.
Skwooshi is wheat and gluten free (although I'm not sure why this matters because at no point were we ever intending to eat it!)
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Suitable from age 3+
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