The 12 Best Desk Toys for Adults—From STEM Gadgets to Build-Your-Own Creations
Toys aren’t just for children’s playtime, kindergarten classrooms, and Christmas stockings. In fact, they’re not just for kids at all! Inspiring, creative, and even productive desktop toys can take up precious real estate in your workspace—whether you’re building out a cozy remote office or personalizing your desk away from home.
Because, let’s face it – when you’re hustling through the 9-to-5 grind or even burning the midnight oil, you need more than a monitor, keyboard, and calendar to keep you motivated. Sometimes—even if you have sweet pictures of family displayed and a secret snack drawer full of go-to treats—your desk isn’t really your own until it’s home to a few favorite trinkets.
Still deciding how to decorate your desktop and ornament your office space?
From STEM-inspired puzzles and stress relievers to displayable art pieces and DIY creations, we’re unpacking the 12 best desk toys for adults.
1. Plus-Plus Isoscapes
What’s better than a framed photo or painting of a 2D landscape? A beautiful 3D isoscape you built yourself! Plus-Plus Isoscapes empower you to channel your inner architect, engineer, and urban planner to design dynamic, displayable scenes that show off your creative side. Construct a rustic cabin, city skyline, or maritime tableau to bring a breathtaking vista to your desktop.
2. Odds Silicone Magnets
Speks Odds Silicone Magnets are designed to sit smoothly in the palm of your hand for quiet fidgeting and a satisfying sensory experience. True to their name, Odds come in interesting textures like dots, bumps, and peaks—as well as sets of three. So you can roll them together without any noisy clatter, separate them to put one or two in each hand, and expend any excess energy with ease.
3. Cubebot
Inspired by Shinto Kumi-ki puzzles, Cubebot is a malleable wooden friend who can fold into a perfect cube or strike a pose to bring some character and charm to your desk. Set up Cubebot in your workspace for a silly distraction, creative inspiration, or tactile fidget break. You can also choose from a natural wood finish or a range of different colors to match your preferred style.
4. HEXEL® fidget toys
Sitting still all day can be tough, especially when you’re trying to concentrate on tedious tasks or you hit that inevitable 3:00 PM slump. That’s where Plus-Plus’ award-winning HEXEL can help. This quiet, colorful fidget toy easily bends, twists, and connects to make mesmerizing designs and intricate structures—helping you relieve stress, stay focused, or just enjoy the art of motion. Named 2025 Specialty Toy of the Year, HEXEL is a must-have for anytime fidgeting at your desk or on the go.
Learn more: How to Buy a Sensory Fidget Toy
5. ONO Rollers
If you’re not into fidget cubes or stress balls, ONO offers up another option: two frictionless Rollers that you can smoothly and silently turn in your hand. With a sleek design, these metal gadgets can sit elegantly on your desk until you need to pick them up to enhance your focus or help cultivate a sense of calm. You can even opt for different materials like aluminum, steel, and silicon for varying weights and textures.
6. Galileo Thermometer
Sure, you can always check the temperature on your phone or smartwatch. But wouldn’t it be cooler to use a Galileo Thermometer? These beautiful glass devices use balls of different densities to determine changes in temperature. And since this thermometer is meant to be displayed, it contains colorful floating spheres that you can watch rise and fall throughout your day—providing a captivating visual and quirky conversation starter.
7. Plus-Plus Playful Plant Packets
Need to spruce up your space with some plant life that’s easy to care for and won’t make a mess? Sprout creativity right at your desk with Plus-Plus’ sweet selection of Plant Packets—including a garden variety of builds like Blissful Bonsai, Tasteful Topiary, and Calm Cactus. These displayable designs are even more low-maintenance than succulents—no watering or sunlight needed! Just start building and watch your imagination blossom.
8. Kinetic Energy Sculpture
The Swinging Sticks’ Kinetic Energy Sculpture isn’t defying gravity, but it does seem to be! In a continuous, fluid motion, this aluminum structure perpetually rotates throughout your day, creating a soothing, hypnotic effect while you work. It’s the perfect desktop toy for engineers and science enthusiasts fascinated by the power of electromagnetic fields, sensors, and symmetry. The only downside of this Kinetic Energy Sculpture? You might get so mesmerized by it that you miss your next meeting.
9. Plus-Plus Inspired Sets
Anyone can frame a print of a Klimt or Kahlo painting. Plus-Plus’ Inspired Series takes your love of art to the next level by putting the power of creativity in your hands. Each Inspired tube is packed with a curated color palette drawn from iconic pieces like Van Gogh’s stunning sunflowers, Monet’s famous footbridge, and Mondrian’s graphic abstractions. Show off your own 3D artworks or set up your displayable tube to unlock creativity on a lunch break, between meetings, or whenever inspiration strikes.
10. Tetra Puzzle
The Tetra Puzzle from Craighill is a modernized, metallic upgrade to the classic Rubik’s Cube. Available in vapor black or stainless steel, this geometric puzzle challenges your understanding of spatial reasoning and manual dexterity—inviting you into both a meditative trance and mind-bending quest to form a perfect tetrahedron.
11. Playable ART ball
The Playable ART ball is a colorful fidget toy and pliable puzzle all in one. Scrunch and twist the 20 interconnected spheres into various configurations to form abstract visuals and even practical objects for storing and propping up items on your desk.
12. Your own creative build!
For curious minds and creative thinkers, sometimes the best desk toy is the one you design yourself. That’s why Plus-Plus gives you the tools to push the limits of your imagination and explore endless creative possibilities. So you can dream up that one-of-a-kind puzzle or clever creation only you could bring to life—be it a modular phone stand or pencil holder with a pop of color.
Use our included instruction booklets as mere suggestions and go rogue with your unique builds. Or choose from ready-made tubes of neon, glitter, pastel, and glow-in-the-dark pieces, and pair them with baseplates and accessories to start crafting. You can even concoct your perfect custom color mix to match your office aesthetic.
Download the Plus-Plus App for more ideas →
Personalize a playful workspace with Plus-Plus desk toys
When it comes to customizing your office, the best desk toy can be a welcome distraction, productivity booster, stress reliever, or helpful reminder to embrace your creative side and enjoy the power of play. Because while it’s easy to get sucked into your screens, spreadsheets, and Slack channels, it’s important to take a few minutes to peel your eyes away and decompress.
That’s where Plus-Plus’ inspiring puzzles, fidget toys, and DIY art pieces come in.
Maybe you want to show off your favorite STEM-inspired gadgets and clever builds to coworkers. Or just display your own creations so they’re always in your eyeline—even as you sit through that long morning of Zoom calls.
With Plus-Plus, you can bring some whimsy to your workspace and add a custom, creative touch to any office.
Ready to deck out your desk with some personal flair? Explore all Plus-Plus toys for kidults.