Paper squishies first landed on my kitchen table on a wet Sunday when my niece arrived with a phone full of videos and a very firm request: could we make the squishy boba cup she had seen online? I had coloured paper, clear tape and a bag of cotton pads, and I assumed it would take twenty minutes. Two hours later we had a lopsided boba cup, a watermelon slice that leaked stuffing all over the table, and a child who was completely delighted with both. Since then I have made squishies with her and her brother on many rainy afternoons, and I have learned which designs actually survive being squeezed a hundred times and which ones fall apart before lunch. These ten are the ones that held up, looked good on a shelf, and were fun enough that the children asked to make them again.
1. Cute Boba Bubble Tea Cup Squishy
The boba cup is still the one my niece asks for first, and I understand why: it looks like a real drink, it is satisfying to squeeze, and the little black pearls at the bottom make it instantly recognisable. We draw the cup shape twice on thick paper, colour in a milky tea section, and add a wide straw before we tape the edges together, leaving a small gap for stuffing. I stuff it with small pieces of soft foam and cotton pads rather than loose cotton wool, because the foam springs back better and does not clump into hard lumps after a week of squeezing. The mistake I made the first time was sealing it with ordinary thin tape, which split along the seam within a day. Wide clear packing tape, pressed down firmly and doubled over the curved bottom, lasts far longer.
2. Giant Kawaii Watermelon Slice
A giant watermelon slice is a brilliant second project because it is mostly one big shape, so younger children can help with the colouring while an adult handles the cutting. We draw a large semicircle, colour the flesh a bright pink-red, add a green rind with a darker stripe, and give it a small smiling face with simple black marker eyes. The face is what turns it from a paper shape into something the children talk to, which I find both funny and slightly alarming. I learned to keep the stuffing light for this one: too much filling makes the flat slice bulge into a ball, while a modest amount keeps it soft and floppy in a pleasing way. A tiny pinhole on the back, made with a needle, lets air escape slowly so it rises back up instead of staying squashed flat.
3. Classic Glazed Donut with Sprinkles
The donut is the squishy I reach for when a child wants something quick, because the ring shape is forgiving and the decorating is the best part. We cut two matching donut circles, colour a wobbly icing ring in pastel pink or chocolate brown, and then add sprinkles in every colour we own. My nephew takes the sprinkle job extremely seriously and counts them, which slows the whole project down in the best possible way. I cover the finished donut with a layer of clear tape all over, not just at the seams, because the coloured paper otherwise rubs and fades where little hands grip it most. The hole in the middle needs a neat ring of tape too, or the stuffing pokes out there first. Ours has survived months on a bedroom shelf and still looks like a donut rather than a crumpled circle.
4. Mystery Blind Bag Paper Squishy Unboxing
Blind bags were my niece’s idea, borrowed from the toy shop, and they turned an ordinary craft afternoon into a proper event. We make three or four small squishies, seal each one inside a decorated paper pouch, and then open them one by one with great ceremony. The trick is to make the pouches opaque: two layers of paper, or one layer with a coloured lining, so nobody can peek through and spoil the surprise. I also learned to label the pouches with numbers rather than names, because the children immediately tried to trade pouches before opening them, which caused a negotiation worthy of a boardroom. Inside, small shapes work best — a tiny star, a mini ice cream, a small heart — because a large squishy will not fit neatly into a pouch a child can open without tearing it.
5. Fluffy Pastel Cloud with Rainbow Tassels
The pastel cloud is the calmest squishy on this list, and I make it when I want a quieter afternoon rather than a loud one. We draw a soft, bumpy cloud shape, colour it in pale blue and white, and then attach short tassels made from thin strips of coloured tissue paper along the bottom edge. The tassels are the part that makes it special: they flutter when the cloud is squeezed and they give small fingers something to fiddle with. I attach them with a strip of tape on the inside of the seam before sealing, so they are anchored properly instead of falling off after two squeezes. The first cloud I made had tassels glued only on the outside, and my niece came back within ten minutes holding a handful of loose rainbow strips. Anchored inside, they last, and the cloud has become a bedtime shelf favourite.
6. Interactive Milk Carton with Pop-Up Straw
The milk carton looks more complicated than it is, and that is exactly why older children love it: it feels like a real object they have built themselves. We fold a rectangular carton shape from card rather than thin paper, because card holds its corners and keeps the carton standing upright on a shelf. A small paper straw pokes out of the top, and I attach it loosely with a single piece of tape so it can wiggle up and down, which the children call the pop-up straw and treat as a major feature. The front gets a simple label — a cow, a strawberry, or just the word milk in big letters — and that labelling step is where each child makes it their own. My advice is to keep the carton small, roughly the size of a hand, because a large one uses a lot of stuffing and goes floppy in the middle.
7. Realistic Avocado Half with 3D Pit
The avocado half is the squishy that adults always pick up first, probably because it looks so convincing from across the room. We draw the avocado shape, colour the skin dark green and the flesh a soft yellow-green, and then add the pit as a separate small rounded shape glued on top rather than drawn flat. That raised pit is what sells the whole thing: it catches the light and makes the squishy feel three-dimensional in a way a flat drawing never does. I make the pit from a small ball of paper wrapped in brown tape, pressed gently flat on one side so it sits neatly on the flesh. Squeezing around the pit takes a bit of care, because pressing directly on it can dent the paper underneath, but the children learned quickly to squeeze the sides instead. It sits on my kitchen windowsill now and still fools visitors.
8. Cute Kawaii Cat Paw Pad
The cat paw is the smallest squishy here and, in my experience, the one that gets carried around the most. It fits in a pocket, it fits in a small hand, and it has that instantly appealing paw shape with one large pad and four small toes. We draw the paw twice, colour it pink or cream, and add the toe beans in a slightly darker shade so they stand out. Because it is small, I stuff it quite firmly — a loosely stuffed paw feels empty and sad, while a firm one bounces back nicely and survives being sat on in a school bag. The seam matters more here than on bigger shapes, because there is less paper to absorb a tear, so I run tape all the way around the edge twice. My niece’s paw has been through a school term, a washing machine incident I would rather forget, and it is still recognisably a paw.
9. Retro Game Controller Fidget Squishy
The game controller is the project for older children who want something that looks cool rather than cute, and my nephew designed his with great attention to button placement. We draw the classic controller shape with its two handles, colour it dark grey or black, and add a cross-shaped direction pad on one side and round buttons on the other. The buttons are small circles of coloured paper glued on top, and I recommend gluing them before stuffing, while the paper is still flat on the table, because gluing tiny circles onto a stuffed, wobbly shape is a recipe for frustration. The controller is also a good fidget toy: the handles are satisfying to squeeze, and the flat middle section is a nice place to press. Ours lives next to the actual games console, which feels appropriate, and it gets picked up every time someone sits down to play.
10. Galaxy Planet and Shooting Star Combo
The galaxy planet is the most ambitious squishy on the list, and I save it for a day when we have plenty of time and nobody is in a hurry. We draw a large circle, colour it in deep purples and blues with swirls of pink, and then add a ring around it like Saturn, plus a small shooting star with a trailing tail attached to one side. The ring is the tricky part: I cut it as a separate oval frame and tape it across the planet, rather than trying to draw a perfect ring on a stuffed shape. The colours need to be bold, because pale galaxy colours look washed out once the clear tape goes over them, so we use markers rather than pencils for this one. When it is finished, it looks genuinely impressive on a shelf, and my niece insists it is a real planet from a story she is writing, which is exactly the kind of imagination these crafts are for.
If you are starting out, make the donut or the cat paw first: both are forgiving, quick, and give a child something to be proud of within an hour. Once you have the taping and stuffing technique down, the boba cup and the galaxy planet are wonderful next steps. Keep your tape wide, your stuffing light but even, and your expectations relaxed — a slightly wonky squishy made with enthusiasm beats a perfect one made with stress every single time. In our house, the shelf of squishies keeps growing, and I have stopped trying to keep them tidy. They are meant to be squeezed, after all.