15 Fun Facts You Never Knew About Play-Doh

According to AdWeek, Kutol, a Cincinnati-based soap company, was struggling amid the Great Depression. To revive their business, Cleo and Joseph McVicker created a product — which we now know as Play-Doh — to clean wallpaper from soot and smoke (it was the age of coal, after all). It worked — until vinyl wallpaper, oil, and gas entered the market in the 50s. Around this time, Joseph's sister-in-law brought Kutol's wallpaper cleaning dough into her classroom to make clay Christmas ornaments. And, well, the rest is history.

Bob Keeshan, the man behind the CBS children's show Captain Kangaroo, loved Play-Doh just as much as the rest of us. After being rebranded as a kid's toy in 1956, Play-Doh was slowly (but surely) growing until McVicker made a deal with Keeshan: If Keeshan used Play-Doh on his show once a week, he'd receive 2% of the sales generated, according to Business Insider. In no time, the product became a household staple.

Still, we don't know exactly what's inside the dough. Here's what we do know: The non-toxic dough is primarily a mixture of water, salt, and flour. It's also free of peanuts and dairy.

If you stay at Disney's Pop Century Resort, you're in for a treat. The hotel, which has a mid-1900's theme, features a vintage Play-Doh container, including Play-Doh Pete. (Good ol' Pete, the original face of the product, was cycled out a few years back.)

Art projects are a recipe for disaster when it comes to your home. Thankfully, Play-Doh can be wiped away without using cleaning supplies. To remove from carpet, simply let the dough dry completely and loosen it with a stiff brush. That's all, folks!

When visiting young patients at Great Ormond Street Hospital, Prince Charles got in on the action by rolling green dough and crafting sculptures with the kids. He even asked one mom if her son grinds the dough on the carpet. Perhaps a memory from Prince Harry and Prince William's early days?

Everyone uses Play-Doh at some point. So much so, that if you made a big ball of all the Play-Doh ever created, it would weigh more than 700 million pounds. That also translates to more than 2 billion cans of this colorful clay. Woah.

Famed artist Jeff Koons's massive Play-Doh sculpture, which was inspired by his son, went up for auction in May 2018 for a mere $20 million. While it looks realistic, the sculpture was made with aluminum in authentic Play-Doh colors from 1994 — not actual dough — over the course of two decades.

In 1998, Play-Doh became an official member of the Toy Hall of Fame. It was a big year in toys: Play-Doh was one of many children's favorites inducted, including LEGO, Barbie, Crayola Crayons, and Monopoly.

Because if you got it, you might as well own it ... forever. Love it or hate it, nostalgic smell of Play-Doh is now registered under United States Patent and Trademark Office, which means no one else can replicate it. Bummer.