The existence of pop-it fidget toys has not just been a fun game for people of all ages, but also a therapist. Sounds ridiculous right? Well, as funny as it may seem, it’s just the truth. Manufacturers produce these toys to cater to many mental and health issues and eradicate boredom in various individuals’ lives.
Definition Of Pop-it Fidget Toys
Research has shown that toys play an important role in the growth and development of children. The primary aim of toys is to give kids a memorable time and free them from boredom, especially when they are not doing anything. As you know, children love to play, this is because they are not thinking about anything at a young age, therefore, they get excited as soon as they get hold of these toys, which is one of the reasons we said earlier that toys help children to develop mentally.
Pop-its are a kind of fidget toy. You might have wondered what a fidget toy is. Well, a fidget toy is just a small object you can play around with in two ways. That’s either focusing on it while playing with it, or just keeping your hands busy with it. When you play with them, you enjoy every moment of it and you also get satisfied.
Popularity Of Pop-it Fidget Toys
Pop-it fidget toys were invented in 2014. However, many people didn’t know about it until during the lockdown of the COVID-19 pandemic, which emerged as a fun and logical game that can be played by everyone irrespective of age. Meanwhile, several other logic games were introduced when it was introduced, thus not making pop-it fidget toys have a unique selling point.
Pop-it fidget toys became popular during the lockdown period. The reason it gained its popularity at that time was because there was a curfew. So, everyone was alone in their various homes without any form of connection with themselves. When stuff like this happens, people get affected and one of its consequences is anxiety.
Pop-it Fidget Toy Materials
Pop-it fidget toys are soft. This is because they are mainly produced for children. As you know, the softness intrigues children, thus making it loving for them to play with. Another thing is that pop-it fidget toys are soft to ensure effortlessly popping and squeezing by children. Normally, pop-it fidget toys are meant to have flexibility and high tensile strength.
FDA Approved Silicone (Food Grade Silicone)
The abbreviation “FDA” means Food and Drug Administration. It’s an international regulatory body based in the US. It conducts tests and certifications that manufacturers must pass for their products to be regarded as FDA-approved. That is, safe for humans.
You’ll find silicone in various consumer goods, therefore it’s also perfect for making pop-it fidget toys. Additionally, you can use food-grade silicone for various children’s toys due to its safety and non-toxic nature.
Features Of Food Grade Silicone
The safety features of food-grade silicone are numerous. The first and the most important feature is that they are non-toxic, meaning they do not exhibit toxic substances just like every other silicone grade and other types of materials. The list below shows other features of food-grade silicone:
- Phthalates-Free
- Free From BPS
- Free BPA
- Micro-Plastic Free
- Free From Cadmium
- Mercury-Free
There are various reasons a toy needs to be free from toxic substances. Firstly, when your kids hold things in their hands, the first thing they do is to put them in their mouths. When they do this, it’s very easy for them to transmit poisonous substances into their body. Therefore, to prevent health issues like this, it’s recommended to use food-grade silicone for pop-it games.
Manufacturing Process Of Pop-it Fidget Toys
You can utilize either of the methods of manufacturing silicone-based products when you want to manufacture pop-it fidget toys. However, various manufacturers have their preferred ways of manufacturing pop-it fidget toys. Plus, the process also depends on the specifications of the toy you want to manufacture.
Silicone Compression Molding Technique
To carry out silicone compression molding, you need to shape uncured silicone material with the aid of a metal mold. However, in this section, we’ll discuss in detail, i.e., explaining the step-by-step process in which you can produce Pop-Its’ fidget toys using silicone compression molding techniques. Meanwhile, the process of the compression molding outlined in this article can be utilized if you are producing on a large or small scale. Nevertheless, this process can be slightly different due to varying manufacturers’ preferences or requirements.
Step 1: Rolling Silicone
This involves using specialized machines to make sure the silicone has a proper mix with the dye. You need to apply a little dye for the colorless material to give your desired color. You can use any color of dye since popsicles come in different colors. Some of their colors include red, yellow, blue, and green. You can think of it as pop-its, fidget toys come in rainbow colors. Meanwhile, you might need to do the rolling task for some time before you can fully color the material.
Step 2: Cutting Into Small Pieces
The next thing to do at this stage is to take the long silicone sheet to a machine that will cut it into small pieces. This process is not complicated and you can quickly do it due to the little consideration required. Also, the size of the pop-it fidget toy you want to manufacture is what determines the shape and size of the material you need to cut, be it small or big. Small shapes and sizes require small pieces, while big shapes and sizes require big pieces.
Step 3: Compression Molding
To use the compression molding technique for molding your pop-it fidget toys, open the top part of the compression mold and put the pieces of the material you cut into the bottom mold. This process automatically transforms the silicone into toys. The summary of this process is to make the silicone pieces solid with the aid of heat. The curing process entails using heat as the vulcanizing agent to give silicone its properties without compromising the flexibility and pliability of silicone.
Step 4: Excess Material Removal
During the process of molding, a compression molding machine molds various pop-its at a time. When the machine presses the silicone material in the mold, some silicone spills out, thus making the pop-its slightly join together. This is a manual process that enables you to use pages or your bare hands to separate the material from the finished product. The purpose of this step in the manufacturing process of pop-its is to make the toys presentable and separated.
Silicone Pad Printing
Silicone pad printing is done in two ways. The first is silk-screen printing, while the other is UV printing. Let’s take a look at the first, then the other.
- Silk-Screen Printing: Silk-screen printing is a manual technique where you are allowed to push ink through a mesh stencil onto a surface, to produce single-colored prints. This is the most preferred due to its strong adhesion, thus making sure that designs printed on various materials last long. Silk printing method is especially good for applications where high-quality, wear-resistant prints, such as labels, signage, and industrial markings are required. Despite its simplicity, it remains a preferred choice for durability.
- UV Printing: UV printing is a machine-based process where ink is sprayed onto a surface and cured instantly with ultraviolet light. This method of printing offers high-speed printing and gives room to unlimited pattern designs, thus allowing detailed and colorful prints. Meanwhile, it has a lower adhesion when you compare it to silk-screen printing. However, UV printing has high versatility, which makes it a preferred choice in signage, packaging, and promotional materials.
Characteristics Of Pop-it Fidget Toys
The choice of the material you utilize is a great determinant of the features and properties your pop-it fidget toys exhibit. For example, if you utilize silicone as the primary material, the pop-it toy will exhibit all the chemical and physical properties associated with silicone. Meanwhile, the subsequent paragraph shows the main characteristic a pop-it fidget toy should exhibit for the safety of your children.
Reusable
Not all types of products are reusable, however pop-it fidget toys are reusable. That is, you do not need to always buy it over and over again anytime you want to use it.
Recyclable
Many advantages come with recycling products. The first is that it helps keep the environment clean. Secondly, recycling is cost-effective, meaning a recycled product is cheaper compared to the ones that are made directly.
Washable
Kids do not know how to stay clean due to their tender ages. Therefore, they find it satisfying doing dirt to the pop-it fidget toys. However, there’s nothing to worry about in this case since silicone is washable.
Safe For Kids
Pop-it fidget toys are common play toys for kids. This is due to their safety that is usually considered in the production process. As you know, food-grade silicone is FDA-approved, meaning you can use it for making pop-it games for kids without any adverse effects.
Durable
Durability is a defining characteristic of Pop-It fidget toys, as they are made from high-quality, flexible silicone that resists wear and tear. They can endure continuous pressing, bending, and stretching without losing their shape or function. This makes them a long-lasting and reliable sensory toy for children and adults.
Lightweight
Pop-it fidget toy has everything you could ask for in a toy. In the process of inventing this toy, the happiness and ease of use of the toys with children are highly considered. As you know, kids don’t have the power to handle heavy toys, that’s why pop-it fidget toys come in lightweight for easy accessibility and practicability. Remember, the primary material (silicone) is lightweight, thus allowing a pop-it fidget toy to also be lightweight.
Portable
Portability is another great characteristic of pop-it fidget toys. This feature gives the toy various advantages like being easily carried while going on a trip, and/or you can easily use it outside your house. They usually come in small sizes, thus allowing you to put them in a bag, pocket, and so on.
Meanwhile, sometimes the portability of pop-it fidget toys has shortcomings. An example is that your kids can easily misplace them. As you know, kids are carefree, as they might not remember where they kept it after playing with it all day. That being said, the tops are cheap, therefore you should consider buying one for your kid regardless of how carefree they may be.
Flexible
You can easily handle anything flexible. Silicone, among other elastomers, is flexible. Therefore, silicone naturally has a soft feel that makes children love to play with it. Remember, children’s hands are soft too, so they like to feel something soft as well because it gives them comfort and makes them feel relaxed. This means that since silicone has this soft feel, Pop-It also has it.
Design Variations In Pop-it Fidget Toys
There are various types of pop-it fidget toys, however, they are divided into two categories, which are generic and custom. The customized design is based on the business that the design is produced for, while the generic pop-it fidget toy design ideas are made by the manufacturer. Meanwhile, the subsequent heading explains in detail for your better understanding.
Custom Designs
Customized pop-it fidget design is a popular variance in pop-it toys that enables you to make unique colors, shapes, and patterns of pop-it toys. These designs can be made in two ways, which are by hand-drawing the conceptual diagram of the pop-it toy according to your ideas. The other way is to find a local designer to design the shape and color you want. After that is settled, the pop-it manufacturer then goes ahead to create the design based on what you require. The custom design can come in various unique features like themes, colors, characters, or logos according to what you need. Custom pop-it fidget toys are perfect for branding, special events, or for personal collections.
Generic Designs
Generic designs are the types you find everywhere. They are the industrial standard types. This tells you that they are quite recognizable and more than 10 people can have the same design. Therefore, if you think of making a pop-it fidget toy, and you just choose any design you can think of, that means it’s a generic design.
Meanwhile, one disadvantage of the generic design is that you cannot represent your brand with a generic design, since your brand name is not customized on it, therefore there’s no difference between you and your competitors. In other words, there’s no identity. This tells you that, if you want your brand to have a unique design, that means you have to choose a customized pop-it fidget toy over the generic ones.
Advantages Of Pop-it Fidget Toys
The use of pop-it fidget toys has become rampant over the years. Have you ever asked WHY? Well, it is based on their numerous advantages which are beyond just having fun, but catering for your health and mental health all at the same time.
Prevent Brain Degeneration
The brain needs to remain stimulated, if not, it degenerates. That is, declining conscious intellectual activity. As an adult, your brain remains stimulated all the time. This is because you actively involve yourself in various activities. Meanwhile, the reverse is the case when it comes to kids. Remember, they remain laid back all day, thus leading to their cognitive health being detrimental.
Meanwhile, there’s a difference between the plasticity in the brain of a kid and an adult. For instance, adult brains have high plasticity, while those for kids are low. This tells you that the brain of kids can easily form neutral pathways, thus making the rate at which degradation occurs in the brain of a kid lower than that of an adult.
Reduces Stress and Anxiety For Adults
The day-to-day activities of an adult are full of stress. From work to family issues to responsibility problems, which can in turn lead to anxiety attacks and depression, which are the major health problems adults encounter. Meanwhile, research has shown that pop-it fidget toys can be a great way to manage this stress.
Pop-its fidget toys are perfect for reducing this stress because research has shown that heart rate and blood pressure associated with stress can be reduced through playing with toys. When the popping is repeated, the nervous system receives a message that assures it, thus making it calm.
Motor Skills Is Easily Developed By Kids
The best time to learn fine motor skills is when your kids are still young. When your kids learn this skill, they will be able to coordinate eye, finger, and hand movements simultaneously. When kids use toys to learn these skills, the brain will automatically pick them up unknowingly.
It’s easy for kids to learn new things quickly due to their sharp brains. Therefore, when they start to play with pop-it toys, it’ll be even easier for them to handle objects with accuracy. This phase of learning is very important in the life of kids because it helps them develop various skills that will be beneficial to their mental health as they grow.
Reduces Kids’ Stress and Autism
Scientists have carried out thorough research on therapeutic play properties, and they came to realize that play is important for the brain because it prompts the brain to release a hormone known as dopamine. Dopamine has to do with pleasure and reward neuro systems. That’s, if you play a pop-it fidget toy, this sense of achievement comes with it.
As you know, it’s difficult for kids with various traumas like autism, stress, and anxiety to relate to people around them, that’s why they get easily distracted by little things. Therefore, for people with this kind of trauma to properly function, they need a cool and calm environment. Since the world is full of confusion, pop-it toys are the perfect toy to keep them focused in all kinds of situations.
In addition to that, in recent times, various learning institutions are gradually including pop-it fidget toys in their environments so that kids with these challenges can improve and make them feel among themselves in their various environments.
Conclusion
Lastly, based on all the information about pop-it fidget toys discussed in this article, it’s obvious pop-it fidget toys are not just good for kids, but they are a therapist to everybody, including young and old. Having the proper understanding of why it was invented will open your mind more to the positive part of it. Meanwhile, if you have questions you want to ask about pop-its fidget toys, or you want customized pop-it toys for you or your kids, TOGOHK is a reliable manufacturer you can always count on. For consultation? It’s free, and we’ll be glad to answer all your questions.