Paper Squishies are squishies made by "laminating" designs with packing tape and filling them with cotton or other stuffings. In this program, children explore DIY by creating their own 3D stress toys.
Advanced Planning
We started planning this in the Spring of 2026 for our Summer Discovery Program. I got the idea from my younger sister, who is now 12 and the most creative kid ever. She had been making squishies for a while, and when I saw kids making them again on TikTok, I knew we had to make them too.
Marketing
We promoted this event in the library with flyers at our Summer Discovery Program Sign Up Table, and I promoted the program to every family I met in the preceding month.
Budgeting
I purchased two bags of Poly-Fil from Hobby Lobby for $3.99 per bag. We could have used yarn, but when I was making the examples, the yarn didn't squish as well.
Day-of-event Activity
Children came into the room and grabbed a sheet of paper to create their own design or used our template. When they finished, they cut out their design and brought it to the assembly table for a staff member or volunteer to tape their design and fill it with Poly-Fil. The more filling, the firmer the squishy, the less filling and the more "squishy" squishy!
I had planned on only using two staff members and one teen volunteer for this event but I quickly realized I needed more adult hands and called in two more adult staff members. I also would've made more copies of our cube squishy template, as every kid wanted to make multiple.
Program Execution
This was my best-attended program ever. I had 35 children, three teens, and 22 adults. Even multiple adults made their own squishies. Families kept asking if we were planning on hosting this again soon. I was super happy with the turnout, and our kids kept saying how much they loved this program.
Advice
Listen and watch for what the young people are crafting in and outside of the library! It helps too if you know a young person who can keep you up on trends, or you're chronically online.
Supporting Materials
Slideshow Images
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