PLAY vs HEY CLAY®
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
PLAY
This app uses virtual Play-Doh to teach children the alphabet. Kids can trace letters, learn new vocabulary, and create custom Play-Doh scenes. It also includes letter matching games and progress tracking for parents.
- Virtual Play-Doh letter tracing
- Vocabulary association with letters
- Customizable Play-Doh creations
- Play-Doh scene building
- Letter matching games
- Progress tracking for parents
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“Top 20 Best Apps of the Week” - The Guardian UK “The perfect blend of nostalgia and learning opportunities” - About.com “Fun, mess free way for learning”-Yahoo Voices “Well-thought out, educationally beneficial, colorful”- The Learning Treehouse “Completely transforms the way kids interact with technology” - Appshappens.com Learn your ABCs using ‘virtual’ PLAY-DOH modeling compound with this delightfully interactive educational app! PLAY-DOH Create ABCs application is designed to help children develop the essential skills required for reading and writing. Using this app, children will learn to: recognize letters, write letters using proper stroke order and associate letters with sounds. WRITE AND CRAFT! Learn how to write letters of the alphabet by using ‘virtual’ PLAY-DOH modeling compound. Discover new vocabulary words that start with the same letter. What starts with the letter A? An alligator! But be careful, it’s ready to chomp! When you successfully complete each letter, you are rewarded with a ‘virtual’ PLAY-DOH treat that you can create and customize. Want to change the color? Go ahead! Want to squish it? You can do that, too! CREATE AND SHARE! Build your own PLAY-DOH scenes with your PLAY-DOH creations. The PLAY-DOH gallery is just a click away on the ‘create and share’ button. There you can enjoy all the animated, colorful objects you make as you work your way through the letters of the alphabet. Select your favorite background and then bring PLAY-DOH scenes to life with custom PLAY-DOH pictures. Save your creations on your phone or tablet and share them with others! LETTER MATCHING Click on the ‘match’ button and you can enjoy a new activity: matching letters with the PLAY-DOH creations. The ‘match’ feature reinforces initial letter sounds by matching letters with objects that start with the same sound. A letter select screen allows you to play the activity on any letter you choose. Can you match the letters of the alphabet to the different PLAY-DOH creations? Give it a try! PLAY-DOH Create ABCs includes: -Tracing of uppercase and lowercase letters of the alphabet -Exciting ‘virtual’ PLAY-DOH treats -Poem and animations to re-enforce learning letter sounds -‘Squishable’ PLAY-DOH animations! -A matching activity to match letters with pictures -A letter select screen that allows children to choose any letter to play -A creativity zone, the PLAY-DOH gallery, where kids design custom PLAY-DOH scenes -A save-to-camera feature where parents can save and share their child’s colorful creations -Curriculum developed and reviewed by preschool education expert s -Multiplayer profiles that allow more than one child to play and save their progress -Parental reporting to show progress PLAY-DOH Create ABCs will help children develop: -Language and pre-reading skills, including letter recognition and phonemic (sound) awareness and knowledge. - Fine motor skills and coordination -Their creativity via ‘learning by doing’ NOTE: Before you download this experience, please consider that this app contains in-app purchases that cost money. Additional content cannot be unlocked without spending money. ABOUT PLAYDATE DIGITAL PlayDate Digital Inc. is an emergent publisher of high-quality, interactive, mobile educational software for children. PlayDate Digital's products nurture children's emerging literacy and creativity skills by turning digital screens into engaging experiences. PlayDate Digital content is built in partnership with some of the world's most trusted global brands for kids. Visit us: playdatedigital.com Like us: facebook.com/playdatedigital Follow us: @playdatedigital Watch all our app trailers: youtube.com/PlayDateDigital1 HAVE QUESTIONS? We'd love to hear from you! Your questions suggestions and comments are always welcome. Contact us 24/7 at info@playdatedigital.com
HEY CLAY®
This app offers an engaging and educational DIY experience for children to learn clay modeling. It guides users through creating various characters and figures with step-by-step instructions and interactive games, fostering creativity and fine motor skills.
- Step-by-step clay modeling instructions
- Interactive kid-friendly interface
- Develops fine motor skills and creativity
- Original colorful animation
- Includes 5 fun games
- Capture and share creations
- No third-party advertising
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Dive into an exciting and educational DIY world! Do you want to teach your kid clay modeling with fun? HEY CLAY® makes it easy. Start with simple balls and sausage shapes, and your child will soon make unique characters, just like a real sculptor! The App connects inspiring clay animation with hands-on modeling. Colorful and engaging, it takes your children on a fun journey of creative crafting! Your kid will learn to roll and bend the clay into various shapes and figures. With amusing clay sets such as Aliens, Dinos, Monsters, and others, the App makes learning an entertaining discovery on how to easily sculpt each of them. Bigfoot, Doggie, Penguin, Donut, Tyrannosaurus, and many other creatures can materialize from the screen. And most importantly – empower your kids to create fantastic claymates you’ll be proud of! FEATURES: • Learn about clay modeling in an easy and intuitive way • All characters contain step-by-step instructions • Fantastic sets such as Shrek, Cats, Plant Friends, Plant Folks, Dragon Island, Bluey, Vivid Accessories (Bubblegum, Aqua and Beads Sets), Colorini, Nice Ice Cream, Easter Studio, Dog Buddies, Minions, Rainbow Unicorns, Construction Vehicles, Advent Calendar, Poop Oops, Fluffy Pets, Eco Cars, Happy Cars, Cyber Cars, Winter Holidays, Ocean, Forest Animals, Beasts, Aliens, Birds, Dinosaurs, Monsters, Animals, Bugs, Fruit, Veg, Mega Dinos, Sweet Rings, Alien Rings, Flower Rings, Dog Story, and Farm Birds • Helps develop fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, abstract thinking, and creativity • Amazing original colorful animation • Interactive kid-friendly interface with 5 fun games to play • Capture & share your creations with friends • No third-party advertising For best-looking creations, use the original HEY CLAY® air-dry clay: it’s super light, non-sticky, and has bright colors. But the best part is that it allows you to create your own toys: model your favorite characters, wait for the clay to harden, and play with the figures as with real toys! The clay sets are available for purchase through the App. You can also take pictures and share the creations with friends and family easily from the App. Make your clay art gallery to keep your masterpieces! Find HEY CLAY on social networks to see more creative ideas. We’d love to hear your feedback and become friends! Enjoy creative clay modeling with the HEY CLAY® App!
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: HEY CLAY® at 4.6 against PLAY's 4.2. HEY CLAY® also leads on ratings volume (13K vs 26) and update cadence (fortnightly vs every 2 months). PLAY's advantage is iOS requirement (13.0 vs 15.0). On price, review sentiment, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. PLAY sells 2 one-off in-app purchases and HEY CLAY® sells 17 in-app purchases, starting at $5.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
HEY CLAY® holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: HEY CLAY® has 13K ratings behind it against 26, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 51% of PLAY's written reviews are positive against 58% of HEY CLAY®'s.
PLAY ships an update every 2 months, HEY CLAY® fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on October 23, 2026 and October 25, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | PLAY | HEY CLAY® |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.2 (26 ratings) | 4.6 (13K ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 51.2% of reviews | 57.8% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 26 | 13K — better |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Fortnightly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 — better | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 243 MB | 265 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | PlayDate Digital Inc. | HEY CLAY |
Customer experience
PLAY
HEY CLAY®
Bugs and requests
PLAY
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
HEY CLAY®
Reported bugs
4 issues- App crashing on launch
- Inability to access purchased content
- Losing progress when app closes
- Compatibility issues on older devices
Requested features
5 requests- More free character options
- Offline mode for instructions
- Community section to share creations
- Ability to adjust tutorial speed
- Color mixing and blending tools
In-app purchases
PLAY
- Remove Ads$1.99
- Unlock All Alphabets$3.99
HEY CLAY®
- HEY CLAY Monthly Plan$5.991 Month
- Peacock$0.99
- Penguin$0.99
- Spider$0.99
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- Burger$0.99
- Bigfoot$0.99
- Horse$0.99
- Tyrannosaurus$1.99
- All2 variants$4.99
- All dinos$4.99
- All Bugs$4.99
- All Aliens$4.99
- All Animals$4.99
- All Forest Animals$4.99
- All Beatst$4.99
- All Dog Story$4.99
- All Australian Animals$4.99









