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JADA IN WEST VIRGINIA ASKS:
My son’s friends all have fidget toys. Of course, now he wants one. These were not a thing when I was growing up. The most popular ones are squishy plastic, which I think is not safe. Is there such a thing as a plastic-free fidget toy?
Tell Congress: Protect Our Families From Harmful Toxic Chemicals
MOM DETECTIVE ANSWERS:
Fidget toys and squishies truly are everywhere. They’re said to improve focus and help manage stress. Occupational therapists call them self-regulation tools, not toys. Despite their newfound popularity with a wide audience, they have a real therapeutic purpose. They’re designed to be used as an outlet for excess energy—basically, the thought is that they keep hands busy so brains can concentrate on primary tasks, which can help with neurodevelopmental conditions like ADHD.
Some say rigorous data to support these purported benefits, especially for a large general public, is limited. Medically indicated or not, fidgets have already worked their way deep into popular culture. Everyone at school, it seems, is using them or wants to, including my younger daughter. So I know what you’re contending with, Jada.
We live in a material world, so it’s no surprise that an entire market has emerged to fulfill this need (or desire) for fidget toys, and you’re right, the majority of what is on offer is plastic. I’ve yet to find a fidget for sale with an ingredient list or label attached, but as you say, it’s well documented that squishy plastic is one of the worst kinds of plastics in terms of health concerns. Chemicals used to make plastic flexible are often hormone-disrupting ones. And flexible plastic is often polyvinyl chloride (PVC), made from vinyl chloride, a toxic petrochemical used to make all kinds of household items from shower curtains to flooring to siding. It’s a known human carcinogen that causes liver cancer as well as leukemia, lymphoma, brain cancer, and lung cancer. (Moms Clean Air Force is calling for the EPA to place stronger safeguards on this toxic chemical.) And kids are squeezing it all day long when fidgeting. Ugh!
Plastic popularity
Maybe your son is asking for one of the most popular toys currently, which shall remain nameless here but are frequently sold out—so much that stores are limiting how many you can buy at once. What these are made of depends on the toy and brand itself—ball, cube, what have you.
I can’t tell you what the rubber-like shells are made of or what they’re filled with, though it would be useful to know should one pop and ooze all over your kid. It happens! Consumer Reports says they can break open and expose kids to “super-sticky, gooey, gluey gel inside,” adding that, “in some cases, parents say that exposure has also led to severe irritation of kids’ skin or eyes.” One brand was recently subject to a recall by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) due to potential asbestos exposure from their sand filling.
I dug around some and found that goop fillings could be anything from polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) gel compound (which I discuss at length in a Q&A about dishwasher pods) to a sugar-based syrup. Or so some manufacturers claim online. I have also seen claims that some plastic fidgets are free of hormone-disrupting chemicals like BPA and phthalates. Sounds great, but you’d have to take the manufacturer’s word on that or any nontoxic claims; I have yet to see third-party certification for fidget toys.
What to do about plastic fidgets?
Given this, it’s tricky to know what to do about plastic toys our kids want. I used to always say no and offer them a safer alternative. I still feel no is appropriate for fidgets for babies, toddlers, and young kids. Exposure to plastic from playing with toys comes from several routes young children have less control over: sucking or chewing on them, dust ingested from hands, inhalation of toxic chemicals released into the air, and skin absorption. Also some of these toys—plastic or otherwise—present potential choking hazards.
But as my kids have grown older, I have too. I don’t love always making them feel cut off from a trend in the name of toxic chemical safety. I also hope I have educated them enough by now that they will decide to opt out of buying plastic that they will play with only briefly before it inevitably winds up in a landfill. For better or worse, my kids know a lot about the lifecycle and many harms of plastic, from manufacture to dump.
That said, the one time an occupational therapist gave my daughter a squishy putty thing to help her finger and hand strength, I let it happen. I had to. She needed it medically. But I also explained why to always wash her hands after touching the stuff, especially before eating. That would be a direct route of ingestion for whatever tiny amounts of particles came off the plastic blob onto her hands while fidgeting. Only you as your son’s mom know how much having the “cool” item means to him socially and emotionally. If he’s older and you trust him to actually wash his hands post fidgeting when not with you before lunch, that may be a tradeoff you’re willing to take. If he’s young or it’s not really that big of a deal to him, I would choose an alternative material.
Alternatives to plastic fidget toys and squishies
There are tons of nonplastic options available—we live in a material world, remember? Try the following and see how your son likes them.
Wood: When you search for hardwood (not pressed wood as that can contain questionable glues) fidget toys, the choices abound: logs, pebbles, smooth odd shapes to stroke in the palm of a hand, puzzles, spinners, ladder toys. It’s a cornucopia. Bonus: some of these are beautiful—and so durable!
Stainless steel: Choose from sliders, scrollers, spinners, rollers, rings, and more. As with other children’s toys, just be careful about metals other than stainless steel as these can contain heavy metals like lead. And watch out for plastic parts. You want stainless steel only.
Plastic-free fabrics: I had a friend growing up who snagged her fingernails over and over on a ratty old bathing suit; she invented her own soothing fidget toy long before anyone was mass manufacturing them. This fabric, I now know, is also usually plastic. But this can also be done with wool or cotton, depending on the fibers. Get creative.
Art supplies: Some people like to draw when listening to and watching something—an audiobook or TV. Some teachers even allow doodling in school to help keep hands active and concentration high. Look into art therapy.
Now that you hopefully have everything you need to make a decision about your son’s fidget toy, rest assured, he’ll be onto asking for the next trend before you know it. And you will have your next research project! Ah, parenthood….
Tell Congress: Protect Our Families From Harmful Toxic Chemicals