Stim Toys! For fun and thereapy.

[Datura]

So, I have been a stimmer my whole life, but I just bought my first purpose-made stim toys. It's called the Twiddle. It's basically a plastic chain. Each link has two degrees of freedom and they can be pulled apart and snapped back together. The links also snap into a locked position when bent at 90 degrees.

Frankly, I love it. You can create all kinds of interesting shapes. The popping of the joints provides a great tactile and auditory stim. To top it off it actually isn't a bad piece of jewelry either.

It's also worth noting that I found this at a major book chain, not online or from a specialty store (though you can find them there as well) so you don't necessarily have to go out of your way to find this stuff.

So, what objects (purpose-made or improvised) have you tried? Would you recommend them to others?

 

[Wireless]

They look fun! I can feel my fingers itching for one!
I usually just fiddle with my fingers or the zip on my coat. But, recently I've wrapped a hairband around a small plastic purple bunny to keep in my pocket. I enjoy the different textures.

 

[Harrison]

That looks fun, found them on Amazon

 

[Vinca]

So, I have been a stimmer my whole life, but I just bought my first purpose-made stim toys. It's called the Twiddle. It's basically a plastic chain. Each link has two degrees of freedom and they can be pulled apart and snapped back together. The links also snap into a locked position when bent at 90 degrees.

Frankly, I love it. You can create all kinds of interesting shapes. The popping of the joints provides a great tactile and auditory stim. To top it off it actually isn't a bad piece of jewelry either.

It's also worth noting that I found this at a major book chain, not online or from a specialty store (though you can find them there as well) so you don't necessarily have to go out of your way to find this stuff.

So, what objects (purpose-made or improvised) have you tried? Would you recommend them to others?

Wow, they look great and lots of fun!

Is it possible to describe how loud the clicks are? sometimes I like clicks and other times I'm quite sensitive. Would you say they are louder that typing on a computer keyboard? Also, is it posible to use it with one hand, or does it require two?


I have a hair grip that has a clip on it, like the ones in the photo. I was sat at a desk talking to someone, with the clip in my hands under the desk, and found clipping it together and releasing it very beneficial, and helped me concentrate whilst intereacting socially.

 

[Nitro]

I had a stim toy before I even knew I was on the spectrum. If you can imagine this,it is a toy connecting rod and a piston modeled after one in a nitro burning dragster and is on my keyring. It makes a squeaking noise when I fidgeted with it

 

[Sully]

I had a stim toy before I even knew I was on the spectrum. If you can imagine this,it is a toy connecting rod and a piston modeled after one in a nitro burning dragster and is on my keyring. It makes a squeaking noise when I fidgeted with it [emoji14]
View attachment 18699

I have that same keychain. I would constantly rock the piston back and forth or run my finger nail around the ring grooves.

 

[Kari Suttle]

I've never had a dedicated stim toy, though ever since i've heard of them i've wondered what they'd be like - hit or miss? I play with everyday objects all the time though, especially at work cashiering. My main stim is twiddling something, spinning it rhythmically around in one hand. It can be whatever i've got my hands on - jewelry, pens, a hanger i've picked up and am taking back to toss in the bin under the register....I'll keep a pen at hand more than is necessary just so i can stim with it, mostly if i'm anxious and forced to cashier and socialize even if i don't feel up to it. I've stimmed with a pen in hand out in the open when i don't have customers, trying to keep busy by looking for stuff to pick up or organize or a customer walking by. Sometimes i feel self concious about it especially if its really slow and lots of the cashiers are busying themselves out in their lanes, but i can shrug it off cause if i put the pen down i feel anxious. Its a need not just mere fidgetting, especially once the object (a capped pen usually) has managed to reach my fingers.

 

[Judge]

LOL. I guess my "stim toy" is my tv set and my sofa. Boring, I know.

If I stand in front of the tv, I inevitably begin to sway back and forth. As for my sofa, it's not against any wall so I can and do pace around it deep in thought on occasion.

 

[Kari Suttle]

LOL. I guess my "stim toy" is my tv set and my sofa. Boring, I know.

If I stand in front of the tv, I inevitably begin to sway back and forth. As for my sofa, it's not against any wall so I can and do pace around it deep in thought on occasion.

OMG I pace when i talk on the phone! Idk what it is about talking on the phone but i just cannot sit still talking on the phone even if its to a friend (you know back when i had that thing called friends). I pace and pace and pace and my mom hates it when i pace in front of them.

 

[Judge]

OMG I pace when i talk on the phone! Idk what it is about talking on the phone but i just cannot sit still talking on the phone even if its to a friend (you know back when i had that thing called friends). I pace and pace and pace and my mom hates it when i pace in front of them.

Do you find yourself when an enhanced ability to collect your thoughts when you pace? I sure do...

Yeah, I pace while on the phone as well. It's all good.

 

[royinpink]

I am not sure what kind of stim toy would work for me. I usually like to have more of my body involved--rocking, swaying, pacing, spinning, bouncing my leg, jumping, etc. If I use my hands, then something with a lot of movement like swinging my arms, flapping, etc. is nice. Sometimes I focus on 'playing' a tune with my fingers. But under stress, I need more stimulation, so if I'm reduced to finger movements, I dig my nails into my skin so the pain takes my focus. Not ideal, but it works if I can't get up and move.

 

[Datura]

Is it possible to describe how loud the clicks are? sometimes I like clicks and other times I'm quite sensitive. Would you say they are louder that typing on a computer keyboard? Also, is it posible to use it with one hand, or does it require two?

The clicks are pretty quiet, definitely more so than a keyboard. You can easily scrunch and unscrunch the chain with one hand. You can also use it to make more complicated shapes. Right now I have mine in a chain of alternating square and hexagonal links. I can shake it, scrunch the links, turn them inside out, or put them in my fist and make a dice-rolling motion, all with one hand. Breaking and snapping links together would be hard though, but I presume that if you only have one free hand that you wouldn't want to be building things anyway.

 

[Datura]

I just made a connection with these interesting objects! Grandmother and Mother both did things like this, one endlessly crocheted her entire life, my Mother knitted all the time, I make beaded jewellery and solder things together often. Wonder if they would have actually stimmed if they hadn't occupied their hands, they did this when they socialized. Thanks Datura for this post, its a revelation.

Thanks Mia

My grandpa tried to get my grandma to teach me to knit once. At the time I would spend hours pacing in the guest room and shaking a watch. They were kind of disturbed by that. My grandpa thought it would be good if I had something constructive to do with my hands. Unfortunately my grandma was adamant that she would not "teach a boy to knit."

*sigh* If only they knew.

 

[qwerty]

I used to annoy everybody at a place i used to work at, I had this rubber ball thingy that had a long strand of springy rubber with a finger hole so you could fling it and it would come snapping back into your hand. OMG I loved that thing, I used it non stop all day every day untill i wore it out. The feeling of knowing the exact amount of resistance and velocity would yield the exact result every time was bliss. Oh now I wana go buy another one. O it had blinking lights which twinkled when it snapped back into your hand and the texture was like one of those squidgy koosh ball things.
oh squidgy thing, I miss you

I will be buying one of these things, thanks Datura
btw your user name reminds me of some .....interesting? experiences from my youth lol

 

[Nitro]

When I was a small boy,I sent my $.25 off to Duncan YoYo company for their book of yoyo tricks. About eight weeks later it arrived in all of it's cartoon glory. After about a month of working with the book,I mastered every trick in the book. I bought a Duncan Butterfly trick model last year along with strings and wax. It is another stim toy to me.

 

[Kari Suttle]

I usually like to have more of my body involved--rocking, swaying, pacing, spinning, bouncing my leg, jumping, etc.

I totally forgot about this until just now but i have a similar range of stims, all are hand or body involved. Another favorite at work is to tap a foot back and forth, no beat, just rhythmically. I twirl things around in my hand a lot though. I'd be amazed if everyone at work hasn't figured this out already and just doesn't want to bring up my oddities lol. I've been told that i can sway a bit if i'm nervous but i almost never notice it myself. I only notice it if like back in school i have to do a presentation in front of the class.

 

[royinpink]

I totally forgot about this until just now but i have a similar range of stims, all are hand or body involved. Another favorite at work is to tap a foot back and forth, no beat, just rhythmically. I twirl things around in my hand a lot though. I'd be amazed if everyone at work hasn't figured this out already and just doesn't want to bring up my oddities lol. I've been told that i can sway a bit if i'm nervous but i almost never notice it myself. I only notice it if like back in school i have to do a presentation in front of the class.

I wonder if this has to do with the proprioceptive sense--maybe that is the one I need the most feedback from. I do fidget with things as well, it just doesn't provide as much of an effect as other stims. I think on a site like Stimtastic, I would gravitate toward the spinning rings, something I could watch/fixate on like the pen maze, or a squeeze ball for the pressure and muscle feedback. But nothing quite replaces pacing and bouncing and rocking.

 

[tree]

Do you find yourself when an enhanced ability to collect your thoughts when you pace? I sure do...

Yeah, I pace while on the phone as well. It's all good.

The best preachers and comedians that I have seen are pacers.

Ideas arise when I walk.
Sometimes in order to figure out what to do/say/write I have
to get up and walk around.

 

[Nitro]

I tend to pace while on the phone or solving problems too.

I know this is way off topic, but try wrapping your head around a subconscious mind that solves many problems while I am sleeping. A nagging or persistent engineering or repair problem is often offered graphically in a pictorial presentation upon waking.

 

[Datura]

your user name reminds me of some .....interesting? experiences from my youth lol

They didn't involve floral tea, did they?