5 Types of Fidget Toys to Match Your Child's Sensory Processing Needs

Judy Benz Duncan, Occupational Therapist

There are many different types of fidget toys and activities besides the typical “spinner” toys that are on the market. Different types of fidgets can help meet a child’s different sensory needs, such as calming, alerting, or focusing.

Check out the different kinds of fidget toys that you may wish to try. If one kind does not work, another type may do just the trick. Have FUN! Play & Learn!

Fidget toys are often very effective and can be used in pretty much any situation or environment. Fidget toys can be used at home, while in the car, out and about in public situations, and at school if the teacher and class policy agrees to their use (usually with specific details as to use). If your child’s favorite fidget toy is too disruptive in some situations or at school, you may modify or limit their use to study time, breaks or play time with the approval of the school.

Some types of fidget toys fall into more than one type of category.

Examples of the different types of fidget toys follow

o   Calming fidgets

o   Alerting, Attention, and Focusing fidgets

o   Chewing fidgets for attention and release of energy

o   Tactile stimulation fidgets

o   Resistive and heavier input tactile fidgets

Active links to many of the suggested products to check out can be found below. Feel free to click and go to see just what is available for each type of fidget toy. Thanks for your support of TheraPlay4Kids.com! Please Like & Share!


Calming Fidgets

Calming fidgets are generally quiet, engage your child with sight, touch, or a combination of both. They provide a calm way to release energy, help to calm them from sensory overload, help to focus and attend, and help to calm thoughts and emotions that may be developing into a stressful situation.

Calming fidget toys include:

o   Sensory gel balls

o   Squeeze and release balls

o   Color-changing light-up balls

o   Flexible foot bands

o   Simple coiled bracelets or key chains 

o   Large smooth plastic nut and bolt

o   Repetitious turn and twist toys

o   Wikki Stix    

o   Fuzzy pipe cleaners

o   Weighted lap pads  

o   Plastic coated slinkies

o   Figipods

o   Spinner toys (weighted, colored, lighted)


Alerting Fidget

Some children need a bit of stimulation to help them focus. A little noise, color, or light in a fidget toy may help with their ability to focus. Alerting fidgets can help your child with focus and attention, as well as giving them a positive way to release energy and need to move.

Some of the alerting toys and activities include

o   Spinning Tops

o   Color changing sensory balls and squeezy toys

o   Pop Toobs

o   Klicks fidgets

o   Clicker toys

o   Slinky

o   Soft clackers

o   Hand puzzles

o   Click links

o   Spinning tops

o   Color changing light-up balls

o   Snap together puzzle toys

o   Spinner toys (with lights, sound/music, colors)


Chewy Fidgets

Some children like to chew on toys and other items to help them focus or calm themselves. Chewing is a very common way for a child to calm, focus, and self-regulate, especially for those on the autism spectrum and/or sensory processing and integration needs. 

Many parents of children that have sensory processing and integration issues are concerned about the constant chewing on clothing, furniture, their hair, fingers and toes, as well as concern for damage to their child’s teeth. One of the easiest first things to do is to give your child something else to chew on which is designed for the “chewer” and is also child safe and child friendly.

Many of us may remember using pencils with chew marks on them from when we too chewed on items to help us concentrate, focus, or help calm us during a stressful time! Pencils may have worked for us, but there are so many other child-friendly and child-safe chewable fidget toys out there today, that you may choose to try a variety of these in search of meeting your child’s sensory chewing needs.

If you have any concerns about the health or impact on your child’s teeth, it is always a good idea to check with your pediatric dentist for their recommendations and chew options.

Some of the chewable toys and activities include:

o   Chewelry (chewable jewelry)

o   Chew Stixx

o   Gum (be alert for choking hazards)

o   Chewable pencil toppers

o   Chew Tubes

o   Chew Tags

o   Chewy necklaces and bracelets

o   Chewy pendants

o   Bite bands

o   Activities:

o   Blowing through a straw (moving light items across table)

o   Blowing bubbles

o   Making faces in a mirror

o   Painting with paint brush held in mouth

o   Singing, talking, reading or repeating a story out loud (activities that cannot be done at the same time as chewing)

o   Singing, talking, reading or repeating a story out loud (activities that cannot be done at the same time as chewing)


Tactile Stimulation Fidgets

Many children with sensory processing disorders crave touch and tactile experiences. Touching gives some children what they need to help them focus, use energy in a positive way, and help them calm themselves during stressful times. Tactile stimulation may be to hands, body, head, feet, or mouth – every child is different!

Some of the tactile stimulation fidget toys include

o   Koosh balls

o   Sensory bars

o   Sensory brushes

o   Sensory balls that include sensory elements (ribbed textures, vibration, squish)

o   Boinks

o   Tactile balls

o   Wikki Stixx

o   Slime, gak, playdough

o   Play foam

o   Kinetic sand

o   Rubbery squeeze toys

o   Strips of Velcro (smooth and hook)

o   String balls

o   Pop-Beads

o   Pop Toobs (ribbed texture) 

o   High density foam pads

o   Loofah discs and sponges

o   Stress balls

o   Sensory stretchy strings and noodles


Resistive and Heavier Input Tactile Fidgets

Some children want more than just touching and feeling textured items. For those children who want to push and pull, and need heavier pressure stimulation, they may need fidget items that provide a heavier and more resistive sensory feeling and input to order to achieve a level of calm and sensory organization to their world.

Some of the resistive and heavier input tactile fidgets include:

o   Low resistance stress ball

o   Resistance rings

o   Therabands

o   TheraTubing

o   TheraBars

o   TheraWeb

o   Large, wide, rubber bands

o   Short Bungee cords (without hooks)

o   Resistive grades of theraputty

o   Squishy balls and toys

o   TheraBalls or Small medicine / weighted balls (2# up to 8#)

o   Pool noodles to bend and squeeze


 Other References, Blogs, and Articles here on TheraPlay4Kids.com

Calming Activities – Click and Go! 

Click for BLOG on “Is It Sensory Overload Meltdown or Tantrum?

 Visit the TheraPlay4Kids SENSORY BLOG SPOT for more information, ideas, and activities

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