#transslimes

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.)

Cake Batter Slime!

Listed on my etsy (TransSlimes)

[image description: a clear plastic cup container with a white lid containing half pastel blue floam and half pastel pink floam. The floam is studded with tiny white polystyrene beads. The lidded cup container sits in a blue bowl-plate.]

Cotton Candy Swirl Floam: $10 USD / $13.44 AUD (check link for regional pricing) for a 5 oz / 141 gram container.

Ships worldwide from the US.

Product description: