Need Those NeeDohs!

By Olina Wong

June 15, 2026

In early 2026, children of all ages, particularly tweens, revived an old TikTok trend known as “fidgeting,” bringing it back stronger than ever. Currently, the most popular fidgets are squishes; a specific brand, NeeDoh, has become very popular due to viral TikToks and Instagram content. Its fans cause stores to sell out of these squishes within days, resulting in scarcity and high demand for these sensory toys.

Trends have always existed, but in 2026, a popular toy began to rise in popularity, catching the internet's attention: the NeeDoh. NeeDohs are squishy sensory toys that can help relieve stress, featuring fun, colorful designs and textures from the American brand Schylling that build on their other squishy styles. NeeDohs were originally introduced in 2017. Although it gained a fan base early on, it became a massive cultural phenomenon through a "slow-burn" viral trend on TikTok and Instagram. This means that many creators independently posted videos of squishy toys over several months, building up their audiences. NeeDohs have also gained popularity as stress balls, helping overwhelmed adults and children relieve stress. 8th grader Emma Lu expressed, “I feel like squishies are a great, non-distracting toy to have in school, but my teacher has different opinions, as they say it is distracting.”  NeeDohs can help people feel grounded, but some people hold controversial views about them; for example, they may find squishies distracting or unhelpful in general. “I think fidgeting is a major distraction in school because every time someone has a toy in class, everyone wants to go see and play with it, and also the teachers don’t really like it because they have to stop teaching to tell the kids that have toys to put them away,” stated another 8th grader, Emily Weng.

Emily Weng suggested another way to deal with stress as an alternative to fidgeting: “I think instead of fidgeting, I would read or listen to music because it keeps my brain occupied and stops me from thinking about the things that stress me out.” Fidgeting is a human impulse; however, “Fidget Toys” began to gain massive attention in December of 2016, with the rise of the fidget spinner toy. Forbes published an article calling fidget spinners the "must-have office toy for 2017," setting the stage for the upcoming explosion. While the fidget spinner lost its popularity in 2020-2022, new sensory toys experienced a massive second wave during the pandemic. It was then that "Pop-It" silicone toys and magnetic fidget pens went viral on TikTok. Like the fidget spinner, these toy trend crazes seemed to die down, only to be replaced by newer trends. 

The disposal of once-trending toys can harm our environment through plastic waste, toxic chemical pollution, and microplastics. These trends can cause great harm to our environment, as when trends end, people tend to move on and shift their focus to new ones, leaving tons of plastic from those toys behind.

The cycle of trending toys has been happening for a very long time, and this year, the trendiest toy has been the NeeDoh. “I…heard a trend online that 2026 is the new 2016, " says Emma Lu, remembering the first wave of sensory toy popularity. Although the popularity of these toys may only last for a season, the materials left behind suggest that perhaps trends never truly “die.”