[image description: two photos of various baby sensory shape toys, which are coloured vinyl three-dimensional shapes with protruding, rounded prickles, like that of a massage ball/prickle ball. The first photo is of an in-store shelf-display with bright red rectangles, pink pyramids, green stars and turquoise balls sitting in cardboard box, loose and able to be grabbed. The second photo is a close-up shot of a pink pyramid sitting on a red watermelon slice pillow. The toy is slightly crooked, with the tip of the pyramid curving to one side.]
Hello Sunshine Sensory Shapes - K-Mart, $3 AUD.
Dimensions of pyramid: 7.5 cm across at base x 9 cm high at upmost point.
Variations: turquoise ball, green-yellow star, pink pyramid, bright red rectangle and blue square.
I needed to get out of the house, so I walked over the local shopping centre and just strolled around K-Mart. I keep forgetting to check the baby section, which I shouldn’t, because today I found a bunch of sensory balls and shapes.
When I picked this up, I couldn’t put it down. I actually ended up stuffing my Tangle Jr in my coat pocket and just wandered around the shop stimming with this in my hands. I keep getting distracted from writing this post by wanting to handle the pyramid, and even when I am typing, I have the pyramid propped between both legs so the prickles press into my skin when I jig my legs about (which I always do while typing).
I own other prickle balls, yes. This one is a bit squishier and has protruding bristles that are comfortably rounded, but it’s the shape that makes this amazing. It has prickles on all sides, but the five flat planes means it fits really well into my hands--I can wrap my one hand about it so I’ve got prickles from two different angles poking into my thumb. Whereas a ball curves away, leaving less of my skin in contact with the prickles, this can be angled so I’ve got at least two planes pressing into skin. The flat planes, too, mean it won’t roll away like a ball does. Given that I use these toys to massage my hands to help with chronic pain, to have one that fits this comfortably is amazing.
My toy is slightly crooked, but this makes it curve even better into my hand. I have no criticisms to make here, save perhaps for the colour and a small rectangle of missing prickles on the base (to make room for a barcode). The shape, the squishiness, the rounded prickles--it’s perfect. I love this so much, it’s going straight into my main stim basket as soon as I rearrange everything to make it fit.
This will best suit stimmers who like or need massaging stims, but if you do, I really recommend these.