Quick answer
Genuine squishies are fine for most kids aged 3 and up. Watch out for cheap copies: the UK has issued 23 safety alerts on squishy toys, 7 of them for asbestos. Buy from a proper shop, check for the brand mark, and never let anyone microwave one.
What are squishies?
Soft toys made for squeezing, stretching and squashing. The big names right now:
- NeeDoh (made by Schylling, sold in the UK through Bigjigs Toys): a stretchy skin full of thick gel. The Nice Cube is the one every Year 3 wants.
- Dumplings: little food-shaped squishies, often in blind boxes, so your kid doesn't know which one they're getting.
- Taba squishies: extra soft, and huge on TikTok.
- Foam slow-rise: the old-school kind. Squash it and it puffs back up in slow motion.
- Sand- or bead-filled: the ones with the worst safety record. More on that below.
UK searches for "squishy" are up about seven times on where they sat before February 2026, and they're climbing again into Christmas.
Are squishies safe?
Genuine ones from known brands are fine for most kids aged 3 and up. The problem is the flood of cheap copies. The UK government has published 23 safety alerts about squishy toys, including 7 for asbestos in the sand inside cheap sand-filled ones. Others found toxic chemicals, mould in the gel, and bits small enough to choke on.
One more thing to tell your kids: never microwave a squishy. A TikTok trend of heating gel squishies to soften them has led to burns, because the gel gets far hotter than the outside feels.
How do I spot a fake NeeDoh?
Bigjigs, the official UK distributor, lists the giveaways:
- No NeeDoh or Schylling mark on the base near the seal
- A chemical smell, often compared to petrol
- A greasy or sticky feel, air bubbles, or gel that's far too runny
- Plain plastic wrapping instead of a branded box
- No mention of Bigjigs on the packaging
We're buying a genuine one and a marketplace fake to photograph side by side. That comparison goes up here soon.
How much do squishies cost?
A NeeDoh Nice Cube has sold for £3.99 at Lidl and around £7 to £9 elsewhere online. If a "NeeDoh" is much cheaper than that on a marketplace or a market stall, treat it as a fake until proven otherwise.
Is it just a phase?
Probably, but not yet. Interest has held for seven months and is rising again into Christmas. For comparison, Labubu went from the most-searched toy in the UK to almost nothing within a year. We'll move this card to "cooling" on the radar when the searches start dropping.
