Even with the best of intentions, all of us sometimes find our attention wandering while working or studying. When this happens, the best idea is to do something mindless for a minute and reset your brain.

Fidget spinners supposedly help with this, but I really don’t see how. It’s much better to do something that engages your creative side at least a little, but certainly most of us don’t want to try oil painting in the middle of the workday.

This set of magnetic balls allows you to mold them into two- or three-dimensional designs with your hands. Essentially, they stick to one another (or the supplied metal base plate) so that you can arrange them into almost any design you like, but don’t attract each other strongly enough to get pulled out of position. This process is mesmerizing. You might start out with one shape in mind, only to wind up with something completely different ten minutes later.

Each package contains 512 balls, each about the size of a BB, meaning a cube of 8 by 8 by 8 balls if you want to visualize it that way. Of course, you could always buy another if this isn’t sufficient, as many customers have found. You may end up having to do this anyway: since the balls are smaller than those of comparable products, losing one tends to be permanent.

The small size, unfortunately, makes this an unsuitable gift for young children.
Older kids, however, will probably love the chance to exercise their creativity without needing to resort to messy clay or paint.

Adults who want to use it as a stress toy will be glad to know that the plastic box containing the balls is small enough to fit into a purse or large pocket, and certainly a desk drawer.