Squishy Fidget Toys Can Be a Sticky Mess—or Worse
This holiday season, consider alternatives to stress ball fidget toys for your stocking stuffers. And if you have them, never ever heat them up.
From the Nee-Doh Nice Cube to the Magic Arggh Ball to the Mochi Squishy, there’s a surprisingly large and colorful range of squishy gel toys for kids on the market today. They’re often touted as more than just fun little party favors: Some of their makers market them as “sensory toys” that can improve mood, calm anxiety, and help kids stay focused in class.
Fidget-toy fans show off their extensive collections in Reddit threads. They’re cute and satisfying to squeeze, and many of their listings specifically say they are “nontoxic” (a popular and under-regulated term). However, many parents and grandparents have reported that some toys like these can unexpectedly break open, exposing kids to the super-sticky, gooey, gluey gel inside. In some cases, parents say that exposure has also led to severe irritation of kids’ skin or eyes.
Analyzing What’s Inside
Gel toys that pop, tear, burst, or leak aren’t always just a sticky cleanup task. Other reports suggest that the goo that comes out of some of them could actually be dangerous.
One incident report in the CPSC database recounts how a dinosaur-shaped squeeze toy made by SmileMakers popped, and the gel got into a 6-year-old girl’s eyes, causing immediate pain and swelling. (SmileMakers didn’t respond to CR’s questions about this incident.) Parents have alerted the CPSC to a few particularly severe-sounding skin injuries that occurred while playing with Nee-Doh toys, too.
In October 2024, a parent reported, an 8-year-old boy was playing with a Nee-Doh Nice Cube when it broke open and the gel gave him what appeared to be a chemical burn on his calf and ankle. Then in January 2025, according to another parent, a Nee-Doh Nice Cube “exploded,” sending a 10-year-old girl to the emergency room after its inner liquid burst onto her arm; photos sent in with the report show her skin bright red and peeling.
This past summer, another 10-year-old told his parent his skin burned after his Nee-Doh Groovy Fruit toy burst open when he was playing with it in the car and the gel got onto his hands. “It wasn’t obvious immediately, but over the next couple of days, chemical burns would reveal themselves all over his hands,” the parent wrote. “He is in pain and can barely use his hands to do much."
These reports were written by the families of the children who were injured, and have limited information about the circumstances surrounding the toys breaking. It’s unclear if the severe reactions were a result of the toys having been (purposely or accidentally) heated up, if they involved an allergic reaction, or if the irritation was somehow caused by the room-temperature gel itself. None of the incidents included a public response from the manufacturer. (We did not find any incident reports on SaferProducts.gov about the other toys we tested for this article.)
Nee-Doh’s manufacturer, Schylling, told CR it has sold over 100 million units to date and received only four complaints in the CPSC database.
GIF: Scott Meadows/Consumer Reports GIF: Scott Meadows/Consumer Reports
Toy companies are not required by law to list their ingredients or material makeup on the toys’ packaging, but some companies do. The Nee-Doh packages and the Schylling website say that the gel inside the Nice Cube is “Maltose” or “100% Malt Extract” (a type of sugar made from barley) and the Nee-Doh Groovy Glob contains polyvinyl alcohol gel, aka PVA, a common ingredient in glues and cosmetic products. Schylling says on its website that PVA is “used as a coating in pharmaceuticals and dietary supplements.”
According to CR’s experts, the very nature of these ingredients may carry a risk of skin irritation. Tunde Akinleye, a chemist in CR’s food safety division, says that some people are allergic to the proteins in barley, from which malt extract is made. He says that PVA is not by itself a significant irritant, but other additives in PVA glue, such as stabilizers and preservatives, can be.
“Either malt extract or PVA could definitely cause skin irritation, even at room temperature,” says Akinleye, “and then elevated temperatures would make that worse.”
In an email to CR, the CEO of Schylling, which makes Nee-Doh, disputed that these ingredients are potentially harmful and also disputed that they would irritate skin at room temperature. (More from Schylling, below.)
Aside from learning more about the gel ingredients, CR’s safety experts were curious about the chemical makeup and the relative acidity of the toys as well. We bought samples from a cross-section of the market of sensory fidget toys and tested them for the presence of contaminants like lead, phthalates, and BPA. We did not find any of those contaminants.
We also chose eight toys to open up so we could pH-test the inner gel, to see if it might be dangerously acidic or basic. We tested one model of each: the Nee-Doh Groovy Glob, ZaxiDeel Squishy Fidget Cube, Color Changing Magic Arggh Ball Minis, Yoya Toys DNA Balls, Visashine Mochi Squishy Toys, Everyday Whimtastic Handmade Ice Cube Stressball, Playbees Sensory Bounce Balls, and the Nee-Doh Nice Cube.
Seven of the eight toys, including the Nice Cube, which was tied to many of the incidents cited above, had a neutral pH, ranging from 6 to 6.5. But one did not. The gel inside of the Nee-Doh Original Groovy Glob had a pH level of 2—the same pH as lemon juice, or vinegar.
“An extremely low pH poses serious risks for chemical burns and severe skin irritation, especially for children’s delicate skin,” says Ashita Kapoor, associate director of Consumer Reports’ product safety team, who led these tests.
Danilo Del Campo, MD, fellow of the American Academy of Dermatology, agrees: “When the pH is too extreme, either too low or too high, that’s definitely a problem,” and can cause skin irritation, including redness, stinging, or a rash.
“On kids, that’s going to be more pronounced,” Del Campo says. “They’re more prone to irritation because their skin isn’t as thick, and their immune systems aren’t as robust, so they’re more likely to have these reactions.”
How Regulators and the Company Responded
Schylling, which makes and sells Nee Doh, disputes CR’s testing that found the contents of the “Groovy Glob” to be highly acidic.
When CR sent questions to Schylling, company CEO Paul Weingard responded, saying that our finding that one of the products had an acidic pH is “unsupported by Schylling’s specifications [and] high-quality records.” He said that the high acidity could have been a result of contamination or chemical alteration from CR’s testing process itself (CR disagrees with this assessment), but he also added that even if the pH results were correct, that alone would not have caused such severe skin irritation.
Weingard reiterated that the Groovy Glob contains PVA, which the cosmetic industry has determined is safe for skin contact, and that the Nice Cube is made of food-grade maltose, which is similarly safe and commonly used in both food and cosmetics. Weingard said that neither of these Nee Doh ingredients would be capable of burning skin at room temperature—implying that the incidents we saw reported must have involved higher heat.
Weingard also said that the company has been communicating with the CPSC since the injuries were reported to the agency.
In March 2025, after spotting the incidents in the SaferProducts database, CR’s advocacy team sent a letter to the CPSC, asking the agency to investigate the squishy gel toy category closely. “We think these products need to be evaluated carefully regarding the inner contents, specifically the gel liquid used in these toys, and be inspected and verified for safety by the manufacturer and any laboratories responsible for testing and certification services,” CR wrote.
The agency did not respond at the time, but Peter Feldman, the acting chair of the CPSC, wrote to CR in response to questions sent during the reporting for this story. He said that the CPSC was monitoring the matter and looking into all potential harms.
CR also contacted the Toy Association, an industry group, for comment. “We understand that CPSC is investigating reports related to squishy toys, but we have not been made aware of any safety concerns identified,” said Kristin Morency Goldman, senior director of strategic communications for the Toy Association. “We always caution families to shop only from reputable brands and retailers, whose products comply with strict U.S. toy safety laws.” Goldman added that parents should supervise their children at play and make sure they are not misusing or breaking their toys.
Why You Shouldn’t Let Squishy Toys Get Hot
Parents may have learned about some of the potential risks of these toys earlier this year, when the fallout from an unfortunate social media trend got a lot of airtime.
Instagram and TikTok posts had been encouraging people to put their Nee-Dohs into microwaves for a few seconds to soften them up. But multiple media reports, including one from the TV show “Inside Edition,” found that when some kids tried this at home, their microwaves were very quickly heating the toys up to extremely high temperatures. There have been some high-profile horror stories, and even a lawsuit, about the toys bursting open right out of the microwave and severely burning children’s skin with hot liquid.
Schylling now has a warning on its website: “Do not heat, freeze, or microwave, may cause personal injury.” Paul Weingard, the Schylling CEO, also told CR that the company was “working with social media platforms to take down dangerous and harmful content that could lead consumers to misuse or abuse its products in a way that could cause harm.”
To see what the impact would be, CR also put our samples in the microwave, to see just how hot they got, and how quickly they would explode. Some of the toys exploded after only about 15 seconds in the microwave—and reached over 200° F in that short time. At that high heat, contact with the skin would cause immediate tissue damage, CR’s safety experts say.
In short, never try this at home. Toy breakage and severe burns can result from even very short microwave times.
Anecdotally, it appears that these toys can also get dangerously hot just by sitting in a car. In June 2025, a parent picked up her child’s Nee-Doh Dream Drop squishy toy from her car seat. “As I picked up the toy the boiling hot gel inside came pouring out all over my bare hand,” she wrote in an incident report to the CPSC. “It was sticky like glue and I couldn’t get the burning to stop due to the stickiness. I now have second degree burns on my right hand and fingers from the hot gel.”
“It’s clear that squeeze toys should never under any circumstances be microwaved; what we need more clarity on is whether some of these products could be causing severe chemical burns when used as intended,” says Gabe Knight, senior policy analyst on Consumer Reports’ safety policy team. “Manufacturers should work closely with the CPSC to thoroughly investigate this product hazard, and provide consumers with answers as soon as possible.”
Photo: Scott Meadows/Consumer Reports Photo: Scott Meadows/Consumer Reports
Tips for Preventing Injury
Don’t give squishy gel toys to babies. Given the risk that any toy like this has the potential to break open, don’t give these to babies or children of any age who might bite or put these things in their mouths.
Check frequently for damage, like holes or tears. If anything appears to be leaking out, toss the toy in the trash.
Never, ever microwave or freeze squeeze toys. Extreme temperature changes can cause the toys to break open much more easily, and heating in particular has caused severe burns.
Don’t leave squishy gel toys in the car. Doing so may cause the toys to heat or cool unexpectedly.
Act fast if they break. If your child does get material from inside a gel toy on their skin or anywhere else, Del Campo says the best advice is to just clean it right off, quickly but gently. You can use just water and a gentle cleanser, or else something like Vaseline or mineral oil if it’s sticky or otherwise hard to remove, he says. “When in doubt, throw it away, clean it off, and moisturize like crazy afterward.”
