NeeDoh Nice Cube

A translucent cube that behaves two different ways depending on how you press it. Squeeze slowly and it gives, folding around your fingers. Squeeze fast and it pushes back. Either way it settles back into a square.

Colours are random. These come in an assorted mix and we send whichever one comes to hand — you cannot choose, and it may not be the colour in the photograph.

What it builds

• Grip strength and finger control, with resistance that changes as the hand changes speed
• Somewhere for restless hands during homework, a car journey or a waiting room
• Focus for children who think better while their hands are busy
• Curiosity — most children spend the first ten minutes working out why fast and slow feel different

Why we stock it

Cheap squishy cubes are everywhere and they all do one thing: squash, and come back. This one is filled with a dough-like compound rather than air or foam, which is why it resists a quick squeeze and yields to a slow one. That is a real material difference you can feel in the first five seconds, and it is why the copies do not satisfy anyone who has held the original.

The details

Age

3 and up

Size

2.25 inch cube (about 5.7 cm)

Feel

Soft when squeezed slowly, firm when squeezed fast

Shell

Thermoplastic rubber, translucent

Filling

Non-toxic dough compound

Colour

Random — assorted mix, cannot be chosen

Power

None. No batteries, no sound.

In the box

One Nice Cube in its display box, in a random colour from the assortment.

Care

Wipe it with a damp cloth and dry it. Keep it away from anything sharp — a puncture leaks the filling and cannot be repaired — and out of direct sun, which clouds the shell. It is not a bath toy and not a teether.