Kids (and Adults) Are Obsessed With Squishy Toys and Fidget Trading

The goop-filled blobs are squeezable, stretchable and squishable. And hunting them down is half the fun.

At 7:30 a.m. on a recent Monday morning, Ashley Montan and her 8-year-old son were waiting in line outside a Target in Hackensack, N.J., hoping to secure the latest additions to their growing collection of squishy toys. The key, they had found, was to show up right when the store opened.

“He’s waking up at 6:30, brushing his teeth, getting everything together, and I typically can’t get him to do that by himself for school,” Montan, 32, said of the summer mornings they’ve spent “squishy hunting,” or chasing down the latest collectibles.

“But for some reason, for these squishies, he will get up,” she said.

On their recent successful mission, they took home a squishy stick of butter and a newly released squishy cloud.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/26/style/squishy-fidget-toys-trading.html