Squinkies Zinkies: The Small Get Smaller

Posted by Jeff on February 17, 2012 at 12:03 am

It can’t be helped. Whether it’s spoons, baby socks, or Squinkies, we all love tiny things in this house. The spoons are for yogurt. The socks re-purposed as baby doll clothes. And the Squinkies, well, they’ve proved extremely adaptable. My creative daughters have put them in an array of funny situations over time. Now, they have them playing the role of mom, dad, big brother, and even school principle. Why? Because all of a sudden, Squinkies seem a lot more, um, mature in stature.

Say hi to Zinkies, the impossibly tiny new line of squishy figures from Blip Toys, makers of Squinkies. These precious tots are less than half the size of their suddenly enormous predecessors (in fact, the Mouse managed to squeeze five Zinks into a single Squink capsule – mini doesn’t quite do them justice!).

Packaged with a playset, magnifying glass, plastic tweezers, and a dozen animal Zinkies (and priced from $12-$16), these itty bitties are charming without question but are not the most practical of toys. First, you have the pet problem (see: cat), then you’ve got the kid sibling putting stuff in their mouth problem, and finally you have the same issue you’d have should you possess the strange desire to frolic with grains of sand or strands of hair: the Zinkies are difficult to maneuver solo or mobilize en masse (hence the tweezers). This makes the idea of mimicking action during an imaginative play session not the easiest of tasks to accomplish. But, with the tools included and the handsome, well-designed playsets (see: Birdhouse Playhouse and the darling Mushroom Caps) young children who’ve moved beyond the oral fixation stage of life (and their brothers & sisters who have done the same) will enjoy the tactile experience of subtly fine-tuning their very fine motor skills, and will promptly fall hard for these cuties. Even if the Zinkies do find themselves on the shelf as set-up decoration more than on the floor as playable toy, a la an army guy installation or those snazzy McFarlane figures.

In the first 48 hours of ownership, the Bear has taken to playing “storm” with the Zinkies, making extreme weather sounds with her mouth while hurrying the tiny animals under the mushrooms. Then, after the big winds come and go, several Squinkies that look the part of EMS crew swoop in to survey the scene. She also put the Zinkies into the larger Squinkie capsules, piled them into the dispenser we had from last year, and then lined up the Squinkies to be awarded a playmate/child. Looks like someone is going to eventually have to explain where children actually come from. Still, I think I can work in the dispenser imagery, if you know what I mean.