We had those when we were kids. I don't think I've seen them in recent years, but you might try looking in stores that sell "funky toys". And no, I really can't define a "funky toy store."

eta: stores that sell a lot of educational toys and puzzles?

Damn it. EXACTLY what DX said. I can hear it and see it in my mind's eye, but I've never CALLED it anything.

Those spinners are sold in at least one of the funky toy stores here. JZ, do you want me to call them tomorrow and find out the name/cost/etc.?

Also, I'm prolly wrong but if you are using usted, you should say usted since the verb endings are the same for 3rd person singular.

That sounds vaguely familiar, but it's been forever since I've had to know.

The last time knowing Spanish came in handy was on my honeymoon, and most of that was spent in the hospital in such a bad state that I was barely speaking functional English, so the nurses were very forgiving of my atrocious grammar.

On eBay, it looks like most all sparking toys are either guns or robots. With the occasional Godzilla. But no spinners.

And I gotta say, they're freaking MAGIC. There was a toddler out in the hall yesterday, frustrated and miserable after being cooped up all morning long in the waiting room outside the ICU where his sibling was, weeping and doing that "uh-uh-uh melting down any second now" howling, mere inches from hysterics in the hallway, and I grabbed a spinner and started spinning it in his face. He snapped his mouth shut in mid-howl, stared, and then broke out into a huge tear-stained smile.

Anyplace that has to deal with toddlers should have boxes of these things. And now we're actually down one, since I let him keep that one (it was hugely obvious that any attempt to get it back would just lead to an even bigger meltdown and it was worth the loss of a spinner to not have him exploding outside our offices, but still, down one).

And they're unfindable. Did someone manage to lose a finger or put out an eye with one of the sparks and get them banned or something?

OMTG, juliana, YES. Totally. Please! Boss and I will buy twenty.

Gee, you think that's a "yes"?!

;)

And they're unfindable. Did someone manage to lose a finger or put out an eye with one of the sparks and get them banned or something?

Well, I doubt any chi-chi child development hardware center (or whatever upscale toy stores are calling themselves these days) would carry something so prosaic, but maybe a novelty shop. Archie McPhee maybe?

I couldn't find any at Oriental Trading, my first guess.

I did find this, though: Shoot. Me. Now. [link]