Physical movement, no matter how small, can help you loosen up, release stress, and better handle troublesome times. It can even manifest involuntarily, such as when you have the urge to repeatedly click your pen, squish some bubble wrap, or flip your pocket knife open and closed. While it’s always fun to play with the gear we have on us or lying around, some of our gear wasn’t designed for such wear and tear. These fidgety urges are best accommodated with a discreet and dedicated gadget or toy.
Fidget toys are designed to take on the stress of repeated movement and are also a great way to soothe your nerves, calm your mind, and enhance your focus. These little gadgets have also been proven to be a good way to replace unwanted habits like shaking your leg, biting your nails, or cracking your knuckles. Or you can choose to have one on you because it’s fun to play with. Perhaps a fun fidget toy is what you need for a calmer mind and a more relaxed attitude, something important to remember during this time. Check out our picks for the little trinkets you can keep your hands and mind busy to reduce stress and worry during those tough days.
Our Top Picks
The Best Overall Fidget Toy: Lautie Shuffle [Buy]
The Most Premium Fidget Toy: Prometheus Lambda Spin Tops [Buy]
The Quietest Fidget Toy: Squid Industries Squiddy-B [Buy]
The Most Fidgetable Fidget Toy: Antsy Labs Fidget Cube [Buy]
The Best Fidget Toy for EDC: aroundsquare MKUltras [Buy]
The Best Fidget Toys
![Magnus]()
After the success of their highly-popular Toad Slider, Magnus set out to improve on “the world’s most popular slider” with the Magnus ToadX, a minimalist magnetic slider with stepped lines and a tactile “X” design in a small 1.65” x 1.18” package. It’s available in both titanium and zirconium, and you can choose between Teflon or zirconium plates for either option. Its small size and light weight (just 1.6oz for the titanium Body + Teflon plates option) make it easy to carry around and pull out when needed.
![FidgetThings]()
The Chill Pill from FidgetThings is a highly customizable magnetic pill that releases a nice audible clacking sound when each end comes together. Many customizing options are available, ranging from materials such as aluminum, titanium, acrylic, or stainless steel, down to how you want the material to be finished. If you’re the type who likes to experiment with different combinations, then you’ll love that the Chill Pill has a removable magnet system that lets you mix and match the halves. Each combination has a different “clack” noise, leaving you to discover your personal favorite. Its packaging is great, too, as each Chill Pill comes in a mock prescription bottle with details about your Pill on the label. We particularly like this titanium variant because of its durable, lightweight characteristics.
![Lautie]()
Measuring just 1.57” x 1.18” and weighing a mere 2.38oz, the Lautie Shuffle is a sliding/shuffling fidget tool that’s easy to pocket. It features two halves meticulously machined from stainless steel, copper and brass, or zirconium with added copper accents, but its near-flawless machining isn’t the only ace it has up its sleeve. The two halves of the Lautie Shuffle slide against each other effortlessly through a series of magnets and a pivot point to create an enjoyable slide motion with an equally satisfying clicking sound. If you’re in a place where you’d rather be more discrete, you can reduce the click sound volume by squeezing them together a bit more when you slide them. These don’t come by often, so drop by their Facebook group page if you’re looking to grab one for yourself. This ensures that you’re buying the real deal, as many replicas are out there.
![Antsy]()
This may be the quintessential design for those who take their fidgeting seriously. This high-quality vinyl desk toy is a six-sided cube that accommodates different fidgety impulses. The Fidget Cube gives you something to click, roll, glide, flip, and spin, satisfying your urge to keep your hands busy in different ways and potentially increasing your focus and productivity (we hope). You can even get the companion Prism silicone keychain holder to keep your Fidget Cube on hand.
![Prometheus]()
While fidget toys offer tactile stimulation for your hands, spin tops are a great way to shift your sensory input and focus visually, allowing you to take a quick mental break from what you’re doing. More often than not, new ideas and solutions make themselves known after you take a step back and “remove yourself” from your task. These Lambda Tops from Prometheus come in two versions, Solid (more stable spins) and Two-Piece (longer spins). Both variants are ruby-tipped, making it highly resistant to wear and tear from friction against the ground or your choice of spin surface. Long spins are particularly preferred, with some even purchasing concave glass plates to get top performance from their toy.
Related Gear:
The 21 Best Pocket Knives for EDC in 2023
11 Best Bug Out Bags in 2023
The Top 8 Everyday Carry Wallets for Men in 2023 (EDC Wallet)
![Mechforce]()
The Mechforce EDC Gyroscope Gen 2 comes with a design that's a little more industrial and technical, providing a way for your to enjoy gyroscopic physics on the go. Playing with this helps you understand and get a literal feel for inertia, angular momentum, and the gimbal lock, famous for causing an engineering incident on the Apollo 11 Moon mission. This compact contraption features five bearings to keep the action smooth and snag-free, allowing you to fidget with the EDC Gyroscope as much as you want.
![ButterfieldMachine]()
Specifications
Model
Begleri Copper Worry Beads
This small skill toy is derived from the Greek rosary, which functions as worry beads that you can manipulate to soothe emotions and calm the mind. The Begleri consists of a two beads or weights at either end of a cord, designed to be flipped between and across your fingers. It takes a little skill, and there are more advanced tricks for the Begleri that you can learn in your spare time. Various models give you many choices for hand-held stress relievers, with the end weights made of other materials like titanium and stainless steel, plus different colors and patterns on the cord.
![Squid]()
With its origins reportedly going as far back as 800 AD, the butterfly or balisong knife could very well be the world’s first fidget tool. The knife itself is designed so that it can be “flipped” open, and many have since discovered creative and fun tricks that they can do with the opening and closing motion between the two handles. The Squiddy-B balisong trainer from Squid Industries is a great way to learn some flashy balisong tricks without the threat of losing a finger or two. It’s light, durable, and well-balanced, but its o-ring noise suppression system sets it apart from other balisong trainers, allowing you to practice in near silence.
![Shire]()
Specifications
Model
Be Good/Stay Evil Decision Maker
Shire Post Mint are a small, family-run business that specializes in producing licensed fantasy coins. Some of their previous work includes coins for franchises like Lord of the Rings, American Gods, and a plethora of coins for Game of Thrones. Made from 18.8 grams of solid copper, their Be Good/Stay Evil Decision Maker isn’t just satisfying to slide against each other, but it can also help you with certain questionable decisions. After all, are bad outcomes still your fault if your choice was decided by fate? We’re kidding, of course, but what isn’t a joke is how well the coins have been crafted. All their coins are struck one at a time in the USA using antique machinery and traditional coining techniques, meaning no two coins are the same.
![aroundsquare]()
The thing that separates the aroundsquare MKUltras from the rest of the fidget toys on this list is that they can be worn instead of stored, making them legitimate fashion accessories. Combining elements of traditional Mala and Komboloi beads, the MKUltras can be used in various ways, ranging from quiet bead counting to raucous flipping. It consists of 19 Micro Boss beads (~12mm) and one 15mm Boss bead to close the loop, strung on a durable cord. The Ultras are also available in a variety of materials: titanium, aluminum, stainless steel, brass, or copper, each with its unique weight, feel, and balance.
![KAP]()
If you’re looking for a little more resistance from your sliders, KAP EDC’s Aztec Square Slider features nine N52 neodymium magnets, which are some of the strongest magnets on the planet. The Aztec Square Sliders are available in a variety of colors in zirconium, titanium, or Ultem, each featuring precise machining with grippy designs. The sliders use black zirconium polished plates to produce a satisfying clack sound.
Related Gear:
The 16 Best Concealed Carry Belts in 2023
The 15 Best Laptop Bags [Find the Right Bag For You]
The 20 Best Sling Bags in 2023
![PopSockets]()
The PopPuck from PopSockets takes a completely different approach to sensory fidget toys. Described as “a magnetic skate park for your thumbs,” the PopPuck features a set of two magnetic “pucks” that attach to a magnetic bowl. The pucks can be stacked or flipped around, leading to a variety of combinations in the way you can move and pop them. If you want to take it to the next level, you can also learn advanced tricks from their website, some of which will take quite some time to master. But once you start the flippy chain, playing around with the PopPuck can be extremely satisfying. You can collect multiple puck designs with bright colors as well. The bowl extends to a magnetic leash, allowing you to Snap your PopPuck on and off your backpack and pop it at a moment’s notice.
How to Choose the Best Fidget Toy
Children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD) and other neurodevelopmental conditions such as autism can also benefit from using sensory toys. Fidgeting helps them stimulate neural pathways and improve tactile awareness and fine motor skills, which is beneficial for those who have trouble with sensory processing.
With that said, not all fidget toys are created equal. With so many variations and kinds of fidget toys, it’s important to note the different features, shapes, and materials used, as well as their respective functions. Here are some key points to consider when looking for a fidget toy that’s right for you or your child.
Function
Fidget toys can be used in several ways, most of which involve hand movements such as spinning, flipping, flicking, sliding, or pressing. Find the one that you feel would hold your interest the most, since maintaining focus is one of a fidget toy’s key benefits.
Noise levels
Most fidget toys are designed to produce clacking, clicking, or sliding sounds as they’re manipulated, which can be extremely pleasant to the user. It’s important to pay special attention to your surroundings, though, as the people nearby may not appreciate hearing these sounds as much as you do. Some fidget toys can be operated silently, allowing you to enjoy them while being considerate to those around you.
Portability
Fidget toys come in different shapes, but are meant to be relatively portable, allowing you to easily pocket them and pick them up when needed. Most fidget toys are highly compact, with the largest ones barely exceeding two inches in length. This is because they’re meant to be operated with one hand, preferably within your palm. Some fidget toys come with special hooks or rings so you can easily attach them to your bag or belt.
How we picked
Decades of experience and deep connections in the everyday carry industry give us a unique viewpoint on the market to inform our product recommendations. We have the depth of information for thousands of products that have come before and an extensive eye on the market to see what’s new and trending for each piece of gear. The result is a buying guide that we feel is informative and useful for EDCers of every trade, industry, and budget.
What is Everyday Carry?
Everyday Carry is both the concept of what people carry in their pockets and the process of picking out gear that thoughtfully considers what one wants or needs in their daily lives. It encompasses everything from style to preparedness to utility, meaning an entire industry full of valuable tools and essentials to choose from.
Why you should trust us
Our team has decades of combined experience in all aspects of everyday men’s essentials, from wallets to pens to bags and everything in between, and we know where to find great gear ideas that you may not come across at your local stores or when shopping online. Our expertise with the industry and familiarity in design, materials, and usability help you make more informed choices when it comes to picking up your next piece of gear.
Discussion (16 total)