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I shied away from using the brand name of this particular toy as the heading for this post, simply because I wasn’t 100% sure I had the name right, but I’m pretty sure there used to be a range of these craft kits known as Plastercasts.
Given the trouble I had trying to track down a decent image to accompany this (I ended up with a rather poor image of a currently available kit of this ilk) it looks as though this is another one of those past times which are gradually fading away as people move towards more immediate (and less messy) hobbies.
My personal memories of this toy are of a Paddington Bear themed set that I must have received as a present at some point. The kit comprised a couple of wibbly wobbly rubber moulds, a big bag of plaster of paris, lots of little plastic pots of acrylic paint and a paintbrush.
You mixed up the plaster of paris, poured it into the moulds, waited for a bit, then carefully (you might want to get an adult to help with this bit) peel away the mould to reveal a pure white statue of, in my case, Paddington. Daub some paint over it and voila, your very own statuette to display proudly on your shelf or window sill.
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Following on from the 
My next Lego inspired item is great for those who love to play in the kitchen! The 
I’m not sure why, but the Eighties seemed to be a time when breaking the world domino toppling record became a bit of a mania, particularly among Japanese students as I recall.
When I was very small I first got into building with Lego with a selection of Duplo bricks, or as my family called them, Big Lego! Back then they were pretty simple looking bricks. I only remember having the 4×2 studded and 2×2 studded rectangular bricks, and a largish base to build on which was fitted with wheels. Despite the simplicity though, many houses, cars and towers were built with those bricks.
By the time the early 1980’s came around I was around about the right age to start making model aeroplanes such as those made most famously by Airfix. I can’t claim to have been very good at it, but it was good fun and the finished models looked great on my shelf or hanging from the ceiling.
I remember loving my Sticklebricks when I was but a toddler, and still enjoyed playing with them with my sister when she was the right sort of age for them. For little hands Sticklebricks were probably the best building toy out there, dare I say it even better than Duplo (or Big Lego as we always called it) as they were easier to push together. You didn’t really need to be too accurate with them thanks to their unique design.
When I first saw the advert on TV for the Play Doh Mop Top Barber Shop I really, really wanted one. Trouble is, I was really too old for Play Doh by then, so instead I kept urging my younger sister to ask for one so that I could have a go with it. I think she would have liked to have had it too, but ultimately we never quite convinced Mum to buy us one, and instead we had to settle for her 
Lego was always one of my favourite toys, but by the time you reach a double digit age the normal Lego Town or Space Lego sets begin to become a little too simplistic to hold your attention – despite the fact that when you reach adulthood you’ll be more than happy to go back to these sets! In an attempt to increase sales in this older age group the Lego company came up with the idea of making some more challenging kits that would hold an older child’s interest.
