A cartoonish banana so addictively squidgy that it is “really difficult to put down” is tipped to be among the must-have toys this Christmas, according to expert buyers at Hamleys.

The £10 “slow-rise, squeezable, sensory” fruit taps into the “squishies” craze that is fuelling a high street boom in toy sales. In the coming weeks, Hamleys expects to sell thousands of the Big Squij toys, which come in a variety of food and animal shapes filled with a flour-based compound.