The 1970s and 1980s were without a doubt the “Golden Age” of COLORFORMS for kids like me. Aside from the classic peel-and-stick vinyl variety of reusable transfers and backgrounds, I distinctly remember my cousins and I having a ton of fun with the Rub n’ Play transfer sets where you could make scenes from shows like KNIGHT RIDER and MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE by using a pencil and some imagination. While the Rub n’ Play has been gone for awhile, Colorforms has changed hands a few times over the years, most recently finding a home with Out of the Blue Enterprises – a company co-founded by someone I’ve mentioned before here on the site, Angela C. Santomero, creator of DANIEL TIGER’S NEIGHBORHOOD, WISHENPOOF!, SUPER WHY! and more. Just in-time for the Holiday Giving Season, Colorforms are back in a big way, with three types of sets: Take Along (MSRP $5.99) Create A Story ($9.99) and Big Wall Playsets ($24.99). Like the sets of years ago, Colorforms feature licensed characters from some of today’s biggest pop culture icons like MINIONS, FROZEN, THE AVENGERS, DOC McSTUFFINS, PAW Patrol, TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES and SPIDER-MAN.
We received a couple of Colorforms sets from the latest incarnation to try-out, and they’re pretty much exactly what you’d hope for if you had them as a kid. Colorful backgrounds that allow kids to mix and match their favorite characters and do it over and over again. They’re portable, easy to clean, and a most importantly – still a lot of fun. With a Take Along DOC McSTUFFINS and a PAW Patrol Create A Story set in our activity closet right now, I’d imagine we’ll get more Colorforms in the months and years to come.
