#puttyworld

Anon, would you believe that this one is difficult? I think, in a lot of ways, the US being so big with so many stores can actually work against you, because it can make it tough to find regional-specific offline stores if the big chains don’t carry them.

I do have this list we’ve reblogged from @tangleobsession with US-based offline stores that I think is worth checking out. A few US folks have commented or reblogged on that list, which I’ll collate here to make sure those fabulous additions aren’t missed:

@nyasupa:

Powell’s Books in Portland Oregon carry Textured Tangles, both locations. Call ahead because they sell out fast.

@electric-milk-carton​:

I can confirm that Math n Stuff (Seattle) has tangles, fidget cubes and spinners (both $19.99), boinks ($2 each if you buy three), various sorts of silly putty and stress balls, and a bunch of other stim toys I’m forgetting atm.

@kirbys-playground​:

[link] I definitely have found spinners and fidget cubes in local independent toy shops here in Colorado. I also recommend World Market for stim toys and tangles, the ones at my store were $5.99 I believe and are the textured variety. I found them in the toy section in a bin just about the floor. The other bins had stretchy fuzzy caterpillars, glitter bouncy balls, slime, and other similar stimmy toys.

Fat Brain Toys has offline storefronts in Omaha, Nebraska and Overland Park, Kansas that might also be worth considering. They absolutely sell Tangles!

Additionally, @diy-stims​, on our Jet discussion post, referenced Tangles on Walmart.com. I don’t know if that means they’re available in offline stores, anon. There is a free pickup option on some of them, but if you can’t do the ordering part (payment, unrestricted access to ordering and paying) that still isn’t helpful. Can anyone confirm for us if Tangles have been seen in Walmart’s offline stores?

I have a few other asks/submissions/references from US stimmers with regards offline stores, but I don’t know if they specifically sell Tangles. Followers, if you have recommended a store in the past and you know it sells Tangles, would you comment or ask or reblog to confirm so I can add it to this list?

I also chatted with CD, our only US-based mod, to see what other suggestions they might have. They have found Tangles at an Alabama toy store, The Toy Place, but also had this to say:

I think in the US the only places people can find them is going to be local toy stores. Searching for toy stores on Google doesn’t much help if you don’t know where they are already.

Additionally, these types of small and independent toy stores seldom have online catalogues listing their entire product line, especially not for small fidget, stim and office toys. Searching for toy stores and your region (literally type “toy store [name of state or city]” into Google, because you should get something) might not get you any store that specifies as to whether or not they stock Tangles if they don’t have a webstore as part of their business.

If none of the above are suitably close to you, anon, and even perhaps if they are, I’d recommend following Mod CD’s amazing suggestion:

I recommend using the store locator on puttyworld.com. It doesn’t guarantee the store has Tangles, but if it has Thinking Putty, that’s a good sign that it sells the kind of stuff similar to Tangles.

In all honesty, without knowing the specifics of where you’re located, I think the Putty World store locator is probably your best option. It still runs the risk of going to a store and not finding a Tangle, but I think you’ll get better results than just searching for local stores and hoping they stock Tangles.

ETA a lovely anon addition:

[link] Hobby Express in northern Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania has a ton of stim toys! Tangles, Thinking Putty, spinners, dice, slime, kaleidoscopes and some other awesome stuff :D Playthings Etc in Butler (a nearby town) has Klixx, Twiddles, molecule balls and a staggering selection of small bargain toys. I hope this helps out my fellow Pittsburgh stimmers!

I hope that helps, anon, even as I’m aware that this is a less than helpful response. I would really like to put together an offline US-based store master post, because I think this a resource a lot of people need!

Hey, anon! I’m trying to think of things that can be ripped apart and I’m struggling beyond things like slime, dough, or kinetic sand dough, which can be torn and moulded back together (making them reusable). Everything else that crosses my mind is very one-time use. I hope followers can help you out with suggestions, because I’m coming up blank.

I can help with toys that stretch!

First: slime. Not your storebought slimes, because they’re often jelly-like and brittle, but homemade slimes. I can stretch mine as far as I can stretch my arms; the only thing stopping me from stretching my slime further is me. If purchasing, you may want to inquire of the seller how taffy-like their slime is - stickier slimes, in general, have more stretch than those that don’t. (They’re also less likely to snap under pressure.) If making, use as little activator as you can get away with and allow your slime to be as sticky as is reasonable to handle. This means you can stretch it harder under more tension without it snapping.

(@transsliime and @caseydickdanger make a lot of different slimes and are fabulously receptive to chatting with their customers, and you can find their respective stores here and here.)

Second: kinetic sand dough. (The brand name products here in Australia are Spinmaster’s Kinetic Sand Build or - if you want to support a company that doesn’t hate autistics - Irwin Toys’ Skwooshi Dough. The product name in the US is Mad Mattr.) This is basically the love child of kinetic sand and playdough, and under gentle tension it stretches fabulously. Please note the words “gentle tension”: if you pull quickly and hard, it will just snap. (That may be what you’re after, though!)

Third: Thinking Putty. (Available at most places that sell stim toys; here’s the main website!) This is probably the cleanest, most portable option out of the putty/slime/dough offerings. The brand-name putty is incredibly stretchy (especially once it’s been in your hands a few moments) without being oozy and it isn’t fragile. If you pull hard, the putty will just form finer and longer strands.

(Similarly, TheraPutty. It’s a little tougher to stretch than Thinking Putty and is available in several levels of resistance. I have the green one, which is medium, so if you want more force required to stretch it, I’d recommend either green or blue (firm). Available at The Therapy Store for Aussies and The Therapy Shoppe for US folks. By the way, this stuff lasts for years. I’ve had mine for at least five.)

Fourth: TheraBands. These are basically stretchy lengths of latex in colour-coded graded resistance designed for physiotherapy. The weaker ones - yellow and orange - are super, super stretchy. You can hold it under your foot and pull it, tie to furniture and pull it, hold it and stretch it - there’s so many ways you can turn this into a stretchy stim toy. There’s also TheraBand loops, which is what it says on the tin - the stretchy latex as a sealed loop. (Say if you want to put both hands in the loop and stretch sideways.) If you want to stretch hard and you want some resistance, I think these are ideal.

(You can break these … or at least, I broke the yellow one. After five years and the latex had degraded, going thin and tacky. My orange band, which is thicker and stronger, is still perfect, so I’d recommend this one for you. When new, though, the yellow one was just fine to stretch hard.)

For US folks, they’re available at The Therapy Shoppe. You can also get Can Do latex-free bands and Fidgeting Foot bands for attaching to a chair.

The Therapy Shoppe also lists smaller Figure 8 Resistance Bands which look ideal for portable stretching. However, the listing states out of stock, and I’m having trouble finding an alternate stockist for this and not the more conventional exercise resistance bands. Black Mountain on Amazon has a lot of different conventional exercise and resistance bands, if you feel like looking in that direction, but as the TheraBands are a simple sheet of latex, they’re much easier to tuck into a pocket or bag.

Fifth, stretchy strings. It’s a small portable plastic string designed to stretch. Available from Amazon, The Therapy Shoppe and Fidget Club. I don’t know, personally, how much stretch these will take before snapping; perhaps someone can advise us on this?

(In this light, telephone cord bracelets are also stretchy and very portable. These will snap under extreme pressure (at the join where the ends are glued) but they’re not very expensive and you can just keep on stretching the broken bracelet.)