Popping toys: New fidget craze might reduce stress for adults and kids
The newest fidget craze is popping toys. Adults and kids all over the world have been buying up this endlessly reusable version of a longtime favourite fidget activity: Popping bubble wrap.
Made of silicone and coming in a range of colours, shapes and sizes, popping toys are half-sphere “bubbles” that can be pushed in, making a satisfying soft popping sound. After “popping” them all, you can turn the toy over and start again from the other side.
Some might remember the fidget spinner craze of 2017 and the controversy that these devices caused, with some teachers even banning them from classrooms. Popping toys raise the perennial question of whether and when fidget toys might be useful. Are they a nuisance? Or could having them help you or your children manage pandemic stress and fuzzy thinking?
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BLABRECS
can t play that, it s a real word!
Play It
What s all this, then?
BLABRECS is a rules modification for the wordgame SCRABBLE that swaps out the dictionary of real-if-obscure English words for a capricious artificial intelligence. In BLABRECS, real English words aren t allowed! Instead, you have to play nonsense words that
sound like English to the AI. These nonsense words are called – you guessed it – BLABRECS.
How do I play?
Get together your regular SCRABBLE supplies and pull up this page in a web browser. Then play SCRABBLE as normal, but before you play a word, use the test a word. box at the top of the page to check whether the AI will let you play it. Remember, you can only play words that the AI approves!