The alert contains an urgent product recall of the TheKiddoSpace Reusable Magnetic Water Balloons after discovering they don’t meet UK safety standards.
The toys – originally sold as ‘perfect for all ages’ – use small internal magnets that snap closed automatically when the colourful silicone balloons are filled with water.
The UK Government claims they can ‘easily be swallowed and have the potential to cause serious internal injuries within the digestive system, particularly the gastrointestinal tract’.
TheKiddoSpace’s own notice warns ‘the small, high-powered magnets can be removed and if more than one is swallowed, they could attract one another causing intestinal blockage or perforation’.
Anyone who bought the item between May 30, 2024, and February 21 2025 is being urged to ‘stop using them immediately and dispose of them safely’.
The recall involves both the standard and glow-in-the-dark editions, with every item sold during that period affected.
The item appears to have been listed for sale on Amazon and had a five-star customer rating – but it’s since been removed.
Earlier this year a schoolboy in Lincolnshire needed emergency surgery after swallowing toy magnets from a similar popular game.
Two of them clamped together in his seven-year-old Eli Jepson-Rivers’ stomach, before travelling through to his small intestine where they magnetised again and got stuck.
Amazon’s product safety team said: “Our Product Safety Team investigates and acts on reported safety complaints and incidents to protect customers from risks of injury related to products sold on Amazon.co.uk.
“If a retailer or European authority notifies us of a product recall, we’ll stop selling the product as quickly as possible.
“We’ll also email customers who have already bought the product from us.
“In this email, we’ll advise them of the measures put in place by the manufacturer or the authorities.”
TheKiddoSpace’s recall states: “It has come to our attention that the small, high powered magnets can be removed from the Reusable Magnetic Water Balloons (standard and glow in the dark edition).
“If the magnets are removed, and more than one is swallowed, they could attract one another causing intestinal blockage or perforation.
“Stop using the products immediately and dispose of them safely.
“Spread the word about this recall, especially if you know that the recalled products were offered, lent, gifted, or sold to someone else.”
