The Squishy Squeeze

One morning this past summer, Laney Varicalli, 11, woke up early and persuaded her mom to drive her to a tiny gift shop before it opened. 

She was looking for something that was nearly impossible to find: a NeeDoh squishy.

“I was worried that they would sell out,” Laney says.

As soon as the clerk unlocked the door, the tween and a crowd of other kids hurried to the squishy display. Laney managed to grab a blue-and-pink NeeDoh Nice Berg Swirl cube.

Laney, who lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, is one of tens of thousands of kids across the country obsessing over NeeDohs, this year’s biggest toy craze.

NeeDohs are soft, squeezable stress toys that come in a variety of colors and dozens of shapes: cubes, fuzz balls, doughnuts, even animals. These squishies first came out in 2017, but they soared in popularity early this year after videos of people squeezing and smooshing them went viral.

Soon the squishies became almost impossible to find, even online. Stores put limits on how many each customer could buy and still sold out. Some people began reselling the toys online for double or even triple their original price of about $4 to $10. One especially rare NeeDoh—a purple Krystal Kitty—sold for more than $1,000 in July.

The NeeDoh craze has spread to other goo-filled stress toys that can be a little easier to find. People are also collecting RMS dumplings, Speks Gumps, and squishies shaped like sticks of butter and other foods.

Many students take the toys to school with them, often because squeezing the blobs helps them relieve stress and stay focused in class. But teachers say the squishies can be a distraction.

Some students line the toys up on their desks, throw them, or squeeze them so hard they split open. As a result, many teachers make students keep their NeeDohs in their backpacks. And some schools have even banned them.

Could getting kicked out of class be the beginning of the end for the NeeDoh fad? Trends are hard to predict, Byrne says. But one thing’s for sure: NeeDohs won’t be the last toy you can’t get enough of!

—with additional reporting by Cailin Loesch