TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (KNN) – A Terre Haute dad says it took 20 minutes in surgery to save two of his son’s toys.
The special procedure happened on Saturday night in southern Vigo County.
Chris Essex says two of his four-year-old son Alex’s Thomas Mini toys had Play-Doh stuck inside of a notch area. He says the Play-Doh had been there for a while, but Alex received a new Thomas set that used those notches to make them go.

“So, basically, I had to operate to make them both usable on the new set,” Chris told us. “Without the Play-Doh removed, they wouldn’t have been usable.”
Chris said he operated on Alex’s toys after he went to bed using warm water and a butter knife.
“So, the majority of the operation involved soaking the two toys in warm water. Using this process allows the Play-Doh to soften. Using the knife I performed several scraping motions to safely remove it,” Chris told us.
He told us the Play-Doh removal procedure process is often times thankless, with Alex jamming more into toys the next time him or his wife get it out.

“This morning, I actually had to get some out of a die-cast metal car. He jammed it in the openable doors,” Chris said.