#theraputty

I see we have another stimming convert! Fabulous. Not that we’re trying to take over the world or anything…

Anon, I’ve got several posts that I consider Stim Toy 101, including posts on breaking down toys into categories and posts on the more popular fidget toys. I’ll list those, and then I’ll finish by listing the toys that I think fit your brief.

So. For anyone new to the wide and wonderful world of stim toys, here’s what I hope to be useful reading:

@wrennigan​‘s Chewable Comparison Post: a list that compares many Stimtastic chewables.

Household Stimmy Items: a list of readily available stimmy objects for folks who don’t have online access to conventional toys or need to be stealth in their stimming.

Subtle On-The-Person Toys: toys that are easily portable and less like to draw attention, also great for folks who need to be stealth.

Common Tactile Toys: a list of the most common tactile stim toys and how they’re used. This is a great post for “starter” toys, anon!

Categories of Stim Toys: things to keep in mind when building a varied stim kit.

My Stim Kit: an example of the kind of kit you might build.

Varying Your Stimming: why you should be a little mindful about your stimming, because you don’t want to end up with chronic pain or injury.

@whisperstims​‘s Stim Toy Hygiene Post: how to clean your stim toys.

DIY Stim Toy Master Posts, One and Two: lists of links to all sorts of tutorials for DIY toys. The degree of difficulty varies here: some tutorials and DIYs are easy, others require a bit of crafting experience.

Autistic Sellers and Crafters Post: a list of autistic stim toy store owners and stim toy crafters.

Now, we’ll move into the rec portion of the answer. Squishable, with resistance, but silent and scentless. All links go to our tags, because by now there’s several posts telling you where you can find the thing.

Squishies: available in a variety of resistances, very squishable, available many places online. Some of these are slow-rising, which mean they compress tightly and take time to expand; others compress less well. Some, like the mochi squishies, are rubbery and gel-like, but most are made from foam. The better quality squishies generally cost more, sadly; I’ve had good experiences with the SquishyFun brand, and I’ve heard good things about Areedy squishies as well. Unfortunately, many squishies are scented, and while some listings state this, many don’t specify scent, so buying these can be a bit of a risk.

Stress balls: usually made from foam, available in a variety of resistances (firmer than most squishies), silent. Most of these don’t have odours, but I recently bought some that did smell chemically. These are readily available in dollar shops and just about everywhere online.

Fabric or crocheted stress balls: weighted, good for crunching and scrunching, no scent, do make low noise as they contain weighted pellets and, sometimes, crinkle paper. The mesh fabric stress balls I have are quieter than the crocheted ones.

Grape or mesh stress balls: squishy, available in varying resistances, do make a slight slurping sound as the slime inside the ball moves.

Puffer balls and puffer creatures: very soft and squishy, but the majority of them have a chemical-rubber scent that I can’t bear. This said, I own one ball from a dollar shop that has no odour, and the puffer worms I smelt at Sensory Oasis for Kids have no odour, so they do exist. This one, I think, is very much a try to find in person item because of the risk of bad smells, but they are available in many dollar and toy shops.

Wool stress balls and wool dryer balls: soft woolen balls that you can squish in your hand. No smell, no odour but that of wool unless you add scent - just a wool ball you can squish or tear.

Makeup blending sponges: a teardrop or hourglass shape sponge, generally medium resistance, great for squishing. No scent or sound, just a lovely fine-spongy texture. I’ve seen them from most dollar and department stores starting at $3-$4 AUD, but the brand name sponges are absolutely not needed for stimming.

(Many sponges in general are good for squishing, and if you like rough textures, check out this ask for a few more rough-textured sponges that are squishable.)

Disney mini Tsum Tsum plush: no scent, very squishable, lots of great textures, a small amount of sound if you press the small pocket of weighted pellets in the plush’s belly (above the strip of faux suede used as the toy’s base).

Thinking Putty and TheraPutty: one of the firmest items here, if you like a lot of resistance when squishing, but Thinking Putty does tend to crack and snap when moulded. It’s not constant, so it’s like a crack here and a snap there, but know that it does. TheraPutty makes no noise at all. No scent for either, unlike most putties and doughs.

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.)

#Stimming with my green #medium firmness #theraputty

A Beady Theraputty Exercise