Fidget me this. Fidget me that. In recent years, fidget toys have exploded in popularity. From classrooms to Zoom calls to coffee shop queues, these tactile tools have become nothing short of a global phenomenon. And they're used everywhere.
Today we’re going to look at them in more detail. Specifically, what are they, why do they work, and how have they evolved into the spinny, clicky handfuls of fun they are today? Let’s wriggle our way in.
What is a fidget toy?
A fidget toy can be characterised as a small object designed to be manipulated with the hands – spun, squeezed, clicked, twisted, rolled and whatever else your fingers fancy when they get restless. These toys provide tactile, visual or auditory stimulation (and sometimes a combination), helping people regulate emotions, improve focus or simply enjoy the sensory experience.
For some, they’re just a handful of fun – and something to do. For others, they’re a necessary distraction, serving as self-soothing tools that anchor attention and reduce anxiety by keeping the hands and mind engaged.
Fidget toys come in all shapes and sizes. You have the purpose-built designs like fidget cubes and spinners, as well as the more traditional (and improvised) objects like pens, paper clips or even Blu-Tac! So, some are smooth and quiet, ideal for more ‘professional’ settings, while others are clicky and… err… more ‘vibrant’, shall we say. And despite being less suitable for professional environments, I’m sure we all know certain characters who still click them within an inch of their (and our) lives…
Why fidget toys just click
Clicky pens and desk tappers aside, there are a number of reasons why adult (and children) fidget toys work:
They’re self-soothing
The repetitive motion and distinct textures of fidget toys stimulate the hands and nervous system. This tactile input can release endorphins and help ground us, pulling us away from anxious or intrusive thoughts. Think of them as a ‘mental reset’.
They improve focus and concentration
For people with ADHD or anxiety, having something to do with their hands can reduce distraction and increase task focus. Some studies also suggest fidgeting increases blood flow to the brain and helps manage restless energy.
They provide sensory and emotional regulation
Fidget toys offer tactile, visual and auditory input. For individuals with sensory processing difficulties, this input can help balance their needs. Similarly, they can help regulate breathing, lower heart rate and reduce stress hormones through rhythmic hand movements.
And it seems like fidget toys have always done this, waaaay before we knew why. So let’s spin back the clock and look at where they came from.
The tactile tale of modern fidget toys
The act of fidgeting is as old as humanity itself. Across cultures and millennia, humans have seemingly developed or repurposed small handheld items to satisfy a natural impulse: to move, touch and occasionally annoy others.
Ancient Fidgets
Evidence of early fidget behaviour (and subsequent toys/tools/devices) can be traced back to 3500 BC, with simple string toys found in ancient Egyptian tombs. Whilst their fidgeting prowess wasn't set in stone, they were still likely occupying their hands and giving their brains something to focus on.
Some thousand years (or two) later, seemingly between 1000 BC and 100 AD, cultures in Greece, Ireland, Tibet and Native America, developed worry stones – smooth pebbles that you rub between your fingers to help relieve anxiety. This is a great example of a simple 'device' that offers psychological comfort and physical stimulation, much like modern tactile fidget toys, via repetitive actions.
Spiritual traditions contributed significantly to the evolution of fidget-like tools/toys/devices, too. For example, Prayer beads, such as Mala, Rosary and Prayer Ropes used in religious traditions like Christianity, Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism serve as rhythmic tactile aids for meditation or contemplation.
Worry beads, distinct from Prayer beads and worry stones, occupy the mind in the same way. These were associated with the monks of Mount Athos around the 10th Century and were made of beads that moved along a string.
Walnuts
In ancient China, during the Han Dynasty (206 BC – 220 AD), it’s said that soldiers would carry walnuts in their pockets – not for eating, but for fiddling and crushing, helping them focus and relieve tension before battle. This practice marks one of the earliest recorded examples of tactile tools used for self-regulation.
By the Song Dynasty (960 – 1279 AD), the tradition had evolved. These battle walnuts became more refined and began to take on symbolic and practical meaning beyond the battlefield. When they weren’t used as projectiles (yes, that happened, too…), they were rolled in the hand, a calming activity to sharpen focus and dexterity.
It wasn’t until the Ming Dynasty (1368 – 1644), however, that the first true Baoding balls were developed. Now forged from iron, instead of grown from trees or carved from stone, they were named after Baoding, a city in northern China. This period marks the first mass-produced tool to aid relaxation.
Over the coming centuries, Baoding balls were refined into the highly decorative versions still used today. Many now include chimes for auditory feedback, and some are made from jade or other polished metals. Their modern use remains much the same: to improve dexterity, stimulate acupressure points and reduce stress, making them one of the world’s longest-standing (or rolling…) fidget tools!
An unintentional up-and-down-let
Now, this one surprised me. I thought these were far more recent. But there is a Greek vase painting from ~500 BC that shows a boy playing with what looks to be a Yo-yo.
Though it was not designed explicitly for fidgeting, it certainly became an unintentional outlet for idle hands. How cool!
Introducing modern day stress
Fast forward to the 1900s, and the foundations for future stress-relieving fidget toys made an entrance. The ‘Roaring Twenties’, as loud and as exciting as they were, also triggered the discovery of “stress” – maybe as a result of the Great Depression that followed. It was Hans Selye, a Hungarian scientist, who published an article in 1936 outlining some of the biological formulations of stress.
The awareness of stress and its impacts continued to grow. So, on went the engineering cap, and out came some of the more well-known fidget tools and toys we know today.
When tools became toys
Toys like Slinky (1940s), Silly Putty (1950s) and even the Rubik’s Cube and Stretch Armstrong (1970s) started to occupy our hands, eyes, ears and brains, providing an outlet – and in the case of Rubik's Cube, a source – for pent-up frustration.
Surprisingly, stress continued to build. And in the 80s, Alex Carswell, an American screenwriter, made the first stress-focused toy, the original stress ball. He said he came up with the idea after hurling a pen across the room post-call with his boss and smashing a picture frame.
His stressball was blue and made from polyurethane, and was intended to emit the sound of shattering glass when it made contact. How relieving.
Noiseless squeezables soon hit the market, targeting those without a wall at work to throw against. And every man and his dog wanted one. (Apparently, investment bank Lehman Brothers had over 2000 stress balls on their asset list when they went bankrupt in 2008...)
They changed shape, size and texture, becoming toys like the Koosh Ball, which almost made them collectable!
Around a similar time, magnets became toys and cured our idle hands once more. Folk created noisy ones (like "Oidz", or "Sizzlers”) that would rattle when you threw them, and they connected. Zzzzzappp.
An ingenious gadget for idle hands
Yes, they went wild in the late 2010s, but the fidget spinner was actually first invented in 1993 by Catherine Hettinger. She was suffering from myasthenia gravis, an autoimmune disorder that causes muscle weakness. She couldn’t pick up her daughter, her toys, or play with her much. So she began repurposing toys with newspaper and tape.
Before long, and several design iterations later, she’d made a basic, non-mechanical version of the infamous fidget spinner.
Over the next few years, she sold upgraded versions at arts and crafts fairs. She held the patent until 2005, and then surrendered it because she couldn't afford the renewal fee.
For ~10 years, fidget spinners lay dormant. All was about to change.
The Fidgetal Age
As we entered the 2010s, stress awareness and the desire to fiddle and fidget reached new heights. So the new toys that hit the market were instantly rooted in culture.
First up was the Torqbar. Scott McCoskery created this in ~2014 to help cope with his own fidgeting during IT meetings. If you've not seen them before, the Torqbar is a two-pronged device with a ball-bearing centre (typically higher quality and more expensive than the soon-to-arrive fidget spinner). Soon after, he started selling them to his peers, before the world.
Then came the Fidget Cube from Antsy Labs in 2016. This went viral on Kickstarter and was one of the most successful campaigns of its time. It’s a small cube-shaped device with various tactile features like buttons, switches and a roller designed to satisfy all those fidgety impulses.
Spinners. Spinners, everywhere!
Now, the big one. 2016-17 marks an important period of fidget toy evolution: the rise of the fidget spinner. McCoskery’s Torqbar might have started it, but the cheaper, now patent-free design was picked up and produced at scale, also boasting a huge range of designs. Everyone wanted to show off the weird and wacky ones they'd found. Social media only amplified their appeal. And soon, fidget toys were everywhere! Literally.
Suppliers struggled to keep up with demand, and sales soared into the tens of millions globally. In fact, in May 2017, all of Amazon’s top 10 best-selling toys were fidget spinners.
The final fidget frontier
Since then, fidget toys have continued to develop into new shapes and sizes. More recently, we've seen the rise of ‘Pop Its’ (think: silicone bubble wrap) in their range of shapes and colours. Apparently, during the 2020-21 pandemic, over 12 million were sold.
Of course, there are new types of stressballs rolling about. And even kinetic (mouldable) sand too!
This tactile thread of history shows that the desire to fidget is not some passing trend. It's a timeless human instinct. And it has now been refined through modern materials and engineering into the variety of fidget toys we have at our disposal. Up next: a walnut-made fidget spinner… Actually, maybe not.
Types of modern fidget toys (and how they work)
So, over the years, lots of fidget toys have existed. Let’s look at some of the more recent ones and better understand their mechanics.
Fidget spinners
I think it’d be rude not to start with the trusty fidget spinner. They have a central ball bearing (either steel, ceramic or hybrid), which lets the outer arms spin. You have the classic 3-pronged spinners that are smooth, balanced and satisfying to flick and inch close to your face. You have the bar spinners, like TorqBar, which are easier to flick with one hand and faster (so long as they’re lighter), but have shorter spin time – heavier outer arms increase the moment of inertia and thus spin duration.
Fidget spinners are generally made from either ABS, PC, aluminium, stainless steel, titanium or brass. You also have magnetic or gyroscopic spinners that use magnets or internal flywheels for added resistance or motion effects.
Pop-its and bubble toys
More popular in recent times, these reusable silicone toys mimic the satisfaction of popping bubble wrap… but let you do it over and over again. These have a tuned dome curvature that provides tactile and auditory feedback.
Silicone is an interesting material because it has elastic memory, meaning it can return to its original shape even after repeated deformation. Thinner walls make the pop easier and quieter, and thicker walls require more pressure, producing a louder, more tactile pop.
Stress balls
These soft, squeezy round objects offer resistance and stress relief. Yes, some can make silly noises, while others are silent, with the only thing audible being your rage or the slap against the wall.
Some are foam-filled (close-cell polyurethane), gel-filled with different densities for therapeutic purposes, and others are sand-filled with a gritty texture typically used for hand exercises. You might keep a selection depending on who's annoying you. I do.
Magnets
There are a few magnet toys out there, typically spinning, snapping or "orbiting". They’re visually engaging, make noises as they vibrate and are highly tactile. I like these because the rattle makes me feel good, whilst it annoys others around me. Sorry, Sam…
The magnetic orientation and shape control motion, stacking, spinning and snapping. The field strength is also balanced for safety and tactile feedback. Typically, magnet toys are made from highly polished neodymium or hematite.
MetMo Fidget Toys
Now, we’ve also created several fidget toys, proudly over-engineered, blending mechanical nostalgia with modern engineering techniques we all love and trust.
Helico
Our Helico fidget toys are Herringbone (or Spur) gears that roll smoothly over one another. They have neodymium magnets inside, 3d-printed Polyamide Nylon 12 on the outside and high tensile brass as the body. It's pure satisfaction in every roll (or throw).
See the Helico here. Or learn about helical gears here.
Cube
The MetMo Cube is nothing like the Fidget Cube that went viral in 2016, other than its shape. Ours is made from a 316 stainless steel block, and has been machined with such precision, the internal pins glide on an air cushion – and then disappear. This is definitely the most over-engineered desk toy you can own.
See the MetMo Cube here. Or see what makes it here.
Piston
Then, more recently, we released the MetMo Piston. This mimics pneumatic compression using tight tolerances and air resistance, so you hold, cherish and experience an air bearing in your hand. Spin it. Pull it. Push it. Whatever it. It’s a lot of fun – and it won’t annoy your friends.
See the MetMo Piston here. Or learn about the wonders of air bearings here.
This spin has come to an end
Fidget toys satisfy something deeply human – a need to touch, to move, to regulate our emotions and energy through our hands. You could argue the desire to annoy others with pen clicking is deeply human too.
Whether it's a precision-machined piston from us or a silicone Pop-it from Amazon, the best fidget toys remind us that focus, calm, and clarity often begin with a simple, satisfying motion. And if it's metal in motion, then even better!
We’d love to hear from you and your fidget toys (if they have online accounts...). Maybe you’ve made some yourself. Join us in our CubeClub forum or subreddit and tell us about them. We, and the folks there, would love to hear about them.