AT FIRST I THOUGHT THEY WERE some bit of tubing that was part of the drainage system, something that goes under the toilet,” says Brandon Barkley, 14, of Nashville. But like thousands of other outdoor frolickers this steamy summer, he soon realized he didn’t need a plumber’s license to operate Funnoodles, just a body of water. On a recent weekend he jumped into a pool with one of the 5½-foot-long, 2½-inch-wide bendable foam rods and rode it like a horse. “They are more fun than a bucket full of spaghetti!” he declared.

At $2.99 each, neon-colored Funnoodles are spreading faster than ice cream on a hot sidewalk. “We bought 500 of them,” says Lynne Yocom, aquatics director of the American Fork Fitness Center in American Fork City, Utah. “When they hit the stores, they’re gone in a week.”

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