Childhood Nostalgia with Colorforms’ 60th Anniversary

018Chances are, no matter how old you are, you remember Colorforms from your childhood. The long-time kids’ favorite turns 60 this year and is still entertaining kids today. But even if you remember playing with Colorforms, did you know how they began? In 1951, Harry and Patricia Kislevitz were playing around with some flexible vinyl and realized that it stuck to the semi-gloss paint in their bathroom. They cut out some shapes to decorate with and left the rest of the vinyl with some scissors so guests could add to the design. Everyone loved playing with the vinyl and a new toy was born.

021-600We received two Colorforms products to try out. The first was Miss Weather, a set that contains a variety of weather-related clothes and accessories. The “set” has a little girl,

What we liked:

  • This is a great set for talking about the seasons, and appropriate clothes for each type of weather.

What we didn’t love:

  • We would have liked a few more clothing choices and a few extra things for the stuffed animals in the room.

019-600The other set we received was the Colorforms Silly Faces game. Each player (up to four) gets a blank face card. On their turn, they spin the spinner and can choose whatever part of the face the spinner lands on (hat/hair, eyes, nose, ears, and mouth). There’s also a blank space that causes the player to lose a turn.

What we liked:

  • No reading required.
  • Simple game play means this is accessible to all but the very youngest family members.
  • It’s fun to be able to choose whatever part you want to create your own face.
  • The kids enjoyed playing with these even when we weren’t playing the game.
  • It was fun enough that even ultra-competitive Bug (5) didn’t mind losing. He just kept playing until his face was done.

What we didn’t like:

  • With six spinner spaces, it’s possible to get stuck spinning and spinning at the end to get your last remaining part. Lady Bug (3.5) got annoyed and bored before finishing her face.

House Rules:

  • Speed up the game by making the blank space “player’s choice” rather than “lose a turn.”
  • Keep younger kids more engaged by allowing them to swap out a face part (an eye for an eye) when they land on a spinner spot they already have.

Disclosure: I received review copies of Miss Manners and Silly Faces. There was no promise of a positive review and the opinions in this post are my own.

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