I asked around to see if anyone knew where I could get some clay and took the first suggestion that I was given, a bookstore across the street. The purchase was quick, painless, and the only choice I had to make was weather to pay 300 rubles for four colors or 100 rubles for 8 colors. I took my 8 colors of игра форма eegra forma (play dough) back to the school and proceeded to mix the red and blue together to make just the right amount, and just the right color of "Cranium clay". I was not at all surprised that it looked, felt, and smelled exactly like the Play-Doh I played with as a child - that's what play dough is after all. I had not anticipated the reaction of Russian teachers and students, who are around my age, when they saw, felt, and smelled this clay.
When I brought the game into the classroom, there was curiosity about the tub of clay, but no one opened it to see what it was. I put my students in teams, set up the board, and then gave them a quick rundown of the instructions. A couple rounds went by, and then someone got a "Sculptorades" card - the card that is like pictionary, but you have to sculpt with Cranium clay instead of draw. One student began reading the instructions out loud to the other team, and when they got to the word sculpt, they all lit up. Now they understood what the little tub of stuff was. My student looked at the word, took the clay out of the tub, and started sculpting. She seemed a bit confused and delighted by the texture of the clay, and after her partner guessed the word, all the students wanted to touch the clay because it was strange, new, different. So, I asked the obvious question:
"You didn't play with play dough or clay as a child?"
"We did, but it wasn't like this. It was Soviet clay."
"Soviet clay? What do you mean? What was it like?"
"It was hard and colored your hands." (It was what I call modelling clay.)
"And it didn't smell nice like this."
"Yeah, this smells like cookies."
"Well, you better not eat it. I don't think it would taste like a cookie!"
My students were almost more interested in the exotic play dough than in playing Cranium. After class, I thought maybe just these students hadn't yet been exposed to play dough, but each time someone saw me playing with the play dough in the teacher's room, the reaction was the same.
"What is that?"
"Is it food?" (perhaps because I was chewing gum)
Because the question was asked so often, it got to the point where I simply handed over a piece of the play dough as a response. Each time, the reaction was the same. Pure delight! A smile and a curious sniff - some would then hand it back, while others would play with it for a while. Most commented on how wonderful it smelled and said it reminded them of something - for me that something was Play-Doh - for them, usually vanilla (even without the suggestion from others).
Often "new" and "foreign" things are made in Russia, like this play dough, so sometimes I can't tell the difference between what is a given worldwide product and what is new and foreign. I discovered that even if something exists in a country, is easily accessible, and looks like it was made by Russians for Russians, it doesn't mean that all Russians have seen it or played with it.
My teens weren't nearly as impressed with it, so play dough worked it's way into childhood culture at least ten years ago.
Very interesting about the reaction to play dough. We enjoyed you comments. I was surprised you found a locally sold product.
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