CPSC’s New Toy Rules Require Safer Designs and Strong Warnings for Water Bead Toys and Neck Floats

CPSC’s new toy rules require safer designs and strong warnings for water bead toys and neck floats, limiting bead expansion and acrylamide and tightening buoyancy, restraint, and fit requirements, effective March and June 2026.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has approved to establish new requirements for water beads and neck floats under 16 CFR 1250 Safety Standard for Toys.

Requirements for water beads

The performance and labelling requirements for water bead toys and toys containing water beads are established under this section. The requirements aims to minimize the risk of children ingesting, inserting, aspirating, and choking on water bead toys.

Performance requirements

If the water beads as received or water beads removed from a toy, which are small parts, expand, shall remain whole while completely passing through the funnel test gauge or sieve test gauge, under its own weight after expansion.

Water beads shall not have more than 325 µg acrylamide extractable from 100 small water beads (defined as <4 mm across the smallest diameter of the bead prior to hydration) or from one large water bead (defined as ≥4 mm across the smallest diameter of the bead prior to hydration).

Labelling requirements

Water bead toys, packaging of water bead toys, and the container of water beads must include the following warning:

Products with contained water beads, such as balls filled with water beads, and the packaging must include the following warning:

The safety symbol and the signal word “WARNING” shall be at least 1/8” (3.2 mm) high. The remainder of the text shall be at least 1/16” (1.6 mm) high.

Instructions shall have the same warning labels that must appear on the product packaging, with similar formatting requirements.

Effective date

The requirements for water beads will be effective on 12 March 2026.

Requirements for neck floats

This section establishes performance and labelling requirements for neck floats to reduce the risk of children drowning while using a neck float.

Conditioning procedure

Neck floats shall undergo thermal conditioning. Following thermal conditioning, a neck float shall undergo exposure conditioning in a chlorinated saltwater bath.

Minimum buoyancy

Neck floats shall provide a minimum upward buoyancy of at least 30% of the neck float’s expected weight capacity. Neck floats that use inherently buoyant components shall not lose more than 5% of their initial buoyancy after testing.

Restraint system requirements

All restraint systems used to attach the neck float to the body or to connect components of the neck float together shall have mechanism to release the fastening system. The release of the fastening mechanism shall have either:

• a double-action release system that requires two distinct, but simultaneous actions to release; or
• a single-action release system that requires a minimum of 50 N to release.

Neck opening test requirement

The neck opening of the neck float shall not admit the passage of a specified head probe.

Labelling requirements

Instead of having the warning for aquatic toys in ASTM F963-23, the following warning shall be found on necks floats and the packaging:

The safety alert symbol and the signal word “WARNING” shall be at least 1/8” (3.2 mm) high. The remainder of the text shall be at least 1/16” (1.6 mm) high.

Instructions shall display the same warning labels, with equivalent formatting requirements. They shall include information on assembly, installation, maintenance, cleaning, and use. The instructions shall also describe how to check that the neck float fits securely around the child’s neck to prevent the child from slipping through the central opening. For inflatable neck floats, the instructions shall provide clear directions for leak testing.

Effective date

The requirements for neck floats shall be effective on 15 June 2026.

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