In 1965 and 1967 respectively, General acquired Rainbow Crafts, the makers of Play-Doh modeling compound, then Kenner Products and merged the two companies in 1971. In 1972, the first products from Kenner’s Play-Doh line began to appear on store shelves.
In 1980, Kenner released several Play-Doh activity sets featuring some of their popular licensed properties, including Sesame Street, Strawberry Shortcake, The Flintstones, and Star Wars.
The kits included a combination of hinged and press-cut molds that allowed children to make characters using the modeling compound. A plastic playmat, rolling pin, trimmer, and multiple cans of Play-Doh rounded out the sets.
