Our Square Peg loves…..Playfoam!!

We are very fortunate to have been gifted some Playfoam from Learning Resources UK to review. They kindly sent us two types, the ordinary Playfoam and the glow in the dark Playfoam.

Just by looking at the unopened packet you have an overwhelming urge to start squishing it. The colours, the feel, the squishableness (is that even a word?), the fact that you can keep moulding and re moulding, that it doesn’t stick to your hands and has a pleasant odour makes the Playfoam a very sensory toy and this is great for children with autism. They come in a range of lovely vibrant colours, however, as soon as Edward started playing with them he just squished all the colours together and we’ve ended up with one big blob that will never be separated again. I would have loved for it to come with some sort of container to store it in. We’ve had to put ours in a empty shoebox.

Edward was super excited and couldn’t wait for me to open it. He does have a lot of toys but he hardly plays with them as they just don’t hold his attention for long, he has an extremely short concentration span. It doesn’t matter how many toys you buy him that play music and have flashing lights he gets bored really quickly.

However, Edward played with this continuously for at least 20 mins and he was able to use his imagination and he kept asking to make different things, like a car, a rabbit, a pie, and a spaceship. As you can see we played with it on the dining table with no tablecloth to protect it. The Playfoam left no mess or sticky residue. He was very excited to play with it and kept on saying ‘This is so much fun.’

In the evening, we opened the Glow in the Dark pack and Edward’s older brother Matthew couldn’t wait to join in too

I was unable to get a picture of the Playfoam glowing in the dark as either the flash would go off or the quality would be bad, but I can confirm that they definitely do glow in the dark.

To sum up…for something to hold Edward’s attention for a substantial period of time and develop his imagination means that it must be a great product.