This is one of my FAVORITE toys to get my kids — and it is only 25 cents!! [And you can get them all over the country!]

While I generally try to avoid plastic toys for my children, I make some exceptions for simple, durable things that are not battery-operated. 

Having been dead-broke for the past several years has also colored what we are able to get for our children as gifts, plus – of course – I have to know it is Lead-free (above all other considerations), AND when purchasing a toy for your children, it is always good if you are fairly confident that it is something you know they will love to play with.

Enter “Old Navy”.

In every Old Navy store they have these giant gum-ball type vending machines – where they sell bouncy balls!

These bouncy balls are the BEST!

“Why?”, you might ask.

Let me count the ways!:

1. They are just 25 cents each! If you have $3 and can buy twelve of them at a time – it is such a fun thing for a kiddo (especially a kiddo with sensory issues).
2. They bounce super-high!
3. They come in all sorts of colors.
4. They are bigger than your average bouncy ball (photo next to scrabble tile and normal size Lego® brick and Jenga® tile to show size!)
5. The activity/experience of “agency” of putting the quarters into the machine is fun in itself for kids!
6. The balls are also fairly durable, as far as these things go — I have seen other balls disintegrate and crumble over time [especially after spending a month in the garden, lol], and these don’t seem to do that.
7. If you give a bunch of them to a child, they can share them with their friends.
8. If your child is learning to juggle they are a good size for that, too!

So these are one of my top toys of choice, especially when money is tight! Sometimes I may even make a special trip to Old Navy (when not buying clothes) just to buy 10 or 20 of these balls (Chanukah? Christmas Stocking Stuffers? Birthday Party Favors? Gifts for all the kids in class at your kiddo’s school? Prizes for a booth at a festival? – Easy Peasy!]

Continue reading below to see the full XRF test results for the two Old Navy (25-cent) bouncy balls pictured here (rainbow swirl and clear with blue swirl!)

Continue reading below the image.

XRF Test Results for Multi-Color Swirl Ball

• Lead (Pb): Non-Detect / Negative
• Mercury (Hg): Non-Detect / Negative
• Cadmium (Cd): Non-Detect / Negative
• Arsenic (As): Non-Detect / Negative
• Antimony (Sb): Non-Detect / Negative
• Barium (Ba): 671 +/- 201 ppm
• Bromine (Br): 4 +/- 2 ppm
• Copper (Cu): 38 +/- 13 ppm
• Iron (Fe): 92 +/- 31 ppm
• Titanium (Ti): 1,038 +/- 431 ppm

XRF Test Results for Clear Ball with Blue Swirls

• Lead (Pb): Non-Detect / Negative
• Mercury (Hg): Non-Detect / Negative
• Cadmium (Cd): Non-Detect / Negative
• Arsenic (As): Non-Detect / Negative
• Antimony (Sb): Non-Detect / Negative
• Copper (Cu): 41 +/- 8 ppm
• Iron (Fe): 27 +/- 14 ppm

In addition to the five toxicants listed as “Non-Detect” – any other metals not listed in each of these XRF results sets were also non-detect (for each test done on these balls). When different sets of colors of the ball were within the scope of the XRF, slightly different metals readings were found. The above two reading sets are each just one example of a full set of readings for each different colored ball. 

As with everything reported on this blog, all tests were done for a minimum of 60 seconds with a Niton XL3T in “Consumer Goods” mode (unless otherwise noted.) Results are replicable and science based.

As always – please let me know if you have any questions.

Thank you for reading and for sharing my posts!

Tamara Rubin
#LeadSafeMama