She Hides Her Scars at School. A TikTok Toy Trend Put Them There.
Josh Selby was in the room when it happened. He was watching his 7-year-old daughter Scarlett pull a squishy toy from the microwave — and then he heard the scream.
“It was like a blood-curdling scream,” he said.
What exploded wasn’t a science experiment gone sideways. It was a NeeDoh stress cube — a popular sensory toy sold at retailers across the country — and it had just showered his daughter’s face, chin, and chest in superheated gel that stuck to her skin and wouldn’t come off.
From Freezer to Emergency Room
The incident happened in October 2024 in Festus, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis. Scarlett had placed her NeeDoh cube in the freezer overnight and then microwaved it for a few seconds the following day — copying a trend she had seen circulating on TikTok, where users claimed the temperature swap made the toy more pliable and fun to play with. Tyla
Her father said she touched the toy briefly after pulling it out, checking that it wasn’t too hot. Then it exploded. newsner
“It had exploded all over her chest, mouth and chin,” Selby said. “Whenever I touched her, my hand stuck to her. It was really thick and sticky. I ripped her shirt off of her because it was stuck to her shirt as well.” newsner
The substance behaved, in Selby’s words, like hot glue — nearly impossible to remove once it made contact. He described it as “napalm-like.” Scarlett’s parents loaded her into the car and drove 30 minutes to St. Louis Children’s Hospital. She was still screaming when they arrived.
Three Days in a Coma
Doctors placed Scarlett in a medically induced coma to prevent her airways from swelling shut due to the severe burns around her mouth. gulfnews
She was placed on a feeding tube for the duration of her week-long hospital stay because her lips were so badly burned. After seven days, she was discharged. The physical crisis was over. The emotional one was just beginning. Tyla
Her mother, Amanda Blankenship, later described finding Scarlett standing in front of the bathroom mirror after a bath, quietly crying while looking at her scars.
“She gets very self-conscious, and I’ll see her trying to cover her scar up with her shirt when we’re out in public sometimes, or she’ll come home from school and say another kid asked her about it,” Blankenship said. newsner
Doctors decided against performing skin grafts during her hospital stay, but her mother worries Scarlett may still need one in the future — the scarring, she says, is that severe. CafeMom
The Warning Was Already on the Box
Schylling Toys, which manufactures NeeDoh, clearly states on both its packaging and website: “Do NOT heat, freeze, or microwave, may cause personal injury.” Tyla
The warning existed. The trend ignored it anyway.
In a statement to People magazine, Schylling said: “Ensuring the safety of our consumers is fundamental for Schylling. We were disappointed to see there had been a trend on social media demonstrating product misuse of our NeeDoh brand. Misusing a NeeDoh product by microwaving, heating, or freezing is dangerous and may cause injury.” aol
The company also said it has partnered with TikTok and other platforms to remove content showing the dangerous misuse, and has since added updated warnings to its packaging and website. CafeMom
TikTok, for its part, states that it prohibits content promoting dangerous activities and challenges — though the videos circulated long enough to reach children in multiple states before being removed.
This Wasn’t Just One Child
Scarlett’s case is not an isolated incident. In January 2025, a 9-year-old Illinois boy named Caleb Chabolla was hospitalized at Loyola Medicine’s Burn Center after the same trend inspired him to microwave his own NeeDoh toy. His mother heard “a blood-curdling scream” as the filling exploded on his face and hands, causing his eye to swell shut. Loyola Medicine confirmed that his vision was ultimately unimpaired. aolaol
A third child, identified only as “Gia,” was reportedly burned in a similar incident earlier in 2025, according to Inside Edition. CafeMom
Three children. The same toy. The same trend. The same scream.
What We Know

Scarlett Selby, 7, of Festus, Missouri, was burned in October 2024 when a NeeDoh squishy cube exploded after she froze and microwaved it
She spent one week in St. Louis Children’s Hospital, three days of which in a medically induced coma
She sustained second- and third-degree burns and may still require future skin grafts
The NeeDoh packaging carried a “Do NOT microwave” warning before the incident
Schylling Toys has issued a public statement, partnered with TikTok to remove content, and updated its product warnings
At least two other children were hospitalized in separate, similar incidents in early 2025

Why This Matters
This story isn’t just about one toy. It’s about what happens when social media platforms become the place children go to learn how to play — and when the safeguards meant to protect them move slower than the trends do.
A warning on a box wasn’t enough. A platform’s content policy wasn’t enough. Three children needed hospital beds before the videos came down.
Scarlett’s father has one message for every parent who finds a NeeDoh in their child’s toy bin:
“I’ve told absolutely everyone to throw them out if they have them. The product that’s in it is like glue — so you essentially have hot glue exploding on you. Once it touches you, there’s no way to get it off.” newsner
His daughter already knows that. She’s reminded every time she comes home from school and has to explain the scar on her chest to a classmate who noticed.

Sources: Kennedy News and Media (primary family interviews); People Magazine (Schylling Toys statement); NBC News / Loyola Medicine (Caleb Chabolla case); New York Post; Daily Mail; Tyla; CafeMom; Gulf News.