Squishy toy - what is it and how to make it out of paper at home?

There are many different names for these toys: squish, squish, squish. But they always mean the same thing - beautiful, bright, soft, pleasant to the touch figures in the form of fruits, sweets, cute animals and even emoticons. They appeared on the market several years ago and have already gained unprecedented popularity.

What types of squishies are there?

If we talk about size, then there are both very tiny squishies and huge ones, the size of the palm of an adult. But most often they buy medium ones - they are convenient to crumple and carry with you.

Sometimes squishies serve as a keychain (some of them have a special loop for hanging), or pencil attachments (these have a recess at the bottom). There are also squishies - stickers on the phone.

These toys are made from rubber, silicone and foam materials that resemble a sponge. And the inside is filled with gel (regular or glitter), memory foam, and foam rubber.

What are squishies for?

Squishy is not just entertainment. They help fight stress, because squeezing a toy in one’s hand fills a person with pleasant emotions. In addition, springy donuts, watermelons and bunnies are needed for the following purposes:

• development of fine motor skills;
• relaxing tired muscles and joints (useful for those who sew or print for a long time);
• For decoration;
• to add scent to clothes or linen (some squishies emit a pleasant smell that permeates things in the closet).

How to make squishies with your own hands?

Buying a squishy is a pleasant thing, but making this toy with your own hands is even more pleasant. Since casting figures from polymers at home is difficult and expensive, you can use paper as a consumable.

To work you will need:

• transparent tape, preferably wide;
• scissors;
• paper (if you plan to print a picture, take special paper for the printer, but for hand drawings any paper will do, even a sheet from a notebook);
• pencils, felt-tip pens or paints for coloring;
• soft and elastic material that will be used as filler. Suitable foam rubber, padding polyester, holofiber. As a last resort, you can use cotton wool, but it quickly clumps into a hard lump.

Templates

Before you start, select the template you like and download it. To do this, move the cursor over the image and left-click - it will open in its original size. Now right click. A list of actions will appear, including “Save image as”. Click on this item, in the window that opens, enter the desired file name (or leave the same) and confirm saving to your computer.

Step-by-step instruction

Making a squish with your own hands goes like this:

1. Print the picture. If you don't have a printer, open the image on the screen, attach a thin sheet of paper to it and trace the outlines with a pencil. For 3D toys that fold like a box, you will need one copy of the picture, and for double-sided toys - two (they must be completely identical in shape and size).
2. Color the drawing. This is not necessary - you can leave it black and white if you wish.
3. Cut out the picture along the outline.
4. Cover the outside of the paper blank with tape. Do this carefully so that no air bubbles form between the paper and the tape.Lay each next strip so that it slightly overlaps the previous one.
5. Collect squishies. If you have chosen a 3D toy, bend the workpiece along the lines, align the gluing edges and secure them with tape. If your toy consists of two parts, put them together and tape them in the same way. In both cases, be sure to leave a small (2-3 cm) hole to “stuff” the squishies through.
6. Place foam rubber or other filler inside the squishy. There should not be too much of it, otherwise the toy will lose its elasticity.
7. Seal the hole with tape.
8. Try squeezing the squishies. If the toy takes a long time to restore its shape, everything is ready. If this process occurs instantly, it means that the paper case is leaky. This is easy to fix - tape all the joints again.

If you have never had a squishy, ​​be sure to buy or make such a toy. As soon as you pick it up, you will immediately understand that millions of people around the world are passionate about it for good reason.