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Key Takeaways:
- Anger management toys help kids and adolescents calm down during frustrating or stressful situations.
- By using anger management toys, they can prevent their anger from becoming overwhelming and improve their coping skills.
- Some helpful anger management toys include stress balls, card games, coloring books, and fidget toys.
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Anger can make children and teens feel vulnerable, especially without an outlet, such as therapy or anger management toys. When they don’t learn to manage their anger, they can become emotionally destructive and struggle to maintain relationships with friends and family.
Providing young people with these tools can help them direct their troubling feelings somewhere safe and productive. Discover some of the best toys for anger management and how to use them to help your child work through intense and angry emotions.
What are Anger Management Toys?
Anger management toys provide a physical outlet for children and teens to relieve stress and cope with overwhelming feelings. These toys can stimulate the senses and temporarily divert a child’s attention from the stressor.
Children who play with anger management toys access the brain’s thinking center and become grounded in the present moment [*]. By staying grounded, they prevent intense emotions from building up.
Types of Anger Management Toys
Different anger management toys work for various scenarios. Here are the types of anger management toys your child can try:
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Fidget toys: These are small handheld toys, such as stress balls, spinners, and putty, that children can squeeze and pull to release tension and angry energy.
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Visual toys: Visually engaging toys like kaleidoscopes, lava lamps, and glitter jars have repetitive motions and hypnotic effects that help children calm intense emotions.
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Aromatherapy: Scented toys can help calm angry episodes through their calming properties. These toys can reduce adrenaline and increase serotonin production [*].
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Textured toys: Texture provides unique sensory stimulation that helps diffuse anger. Textured toys might include stress blankets and lap pads, plastic balls made with different materials, picky pads, and stuffed animals.
Consider your child’s personality and age when selecting an anger management toy. Ask yourself what they respond best to—do they prefer certain textures? Are they visually stimulated?
Benefits of Anger Management Toys
Anger management toys have plentiful benefits that help children manage temporary stress and tension through tactile and visual distractions. They also supply the following benefits:
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Reduced stress: A study on hemodialysis patients found that using specific toys reduced stress during nerve-racking procedures [*]. These toys can help people relax and relieve mild anxiety by offering a sensory distraction.
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Improved focus: Using anger management toys can cultivate mindfulness and encourage adolescents to focus on the present moment. They also provide a healthy way to express frustration and anger, which reduces impulsive behaviors.
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Release of physical tension: When people feel angry, they create adrenaline, which can increase the heart rate, cause rapid breathing, and tense muscles. By using anger management toys, kids can release physical tension and reduce the risk of health complications.
Anger management toys can relieve momentary stress under intense circumstances. It’s best to pair them with other anger management solutions for children to manage complex stressors and anxiety disorders.
10 Best Anger Management Toys for Kids & Teens
Toys can go a long way in a child’s ability to control their anger. Consider these anger management toys for kids and teens.
1. Hedgehog Rollers
These hedgehog rollers are silent sensory toys for autism, ADHD, and stress relief. They’re available in many bright colors for visual stimulation and feature soft spikes for tactile fun. They’re small enough to fit in your child’s pocket or school bag, so they can take their hedgehog rollers around without being disruptive.
These spiky balls are made with sturdy thermoplastic rubber and are safely free of BPAs, phthalates, and latex.
$12.90 on Amazon
2. Liquid Motion Bubbler
If your child prefers stimulating their visual senses, the liquid motion bubbler is the best choice for their anger management journey. These desktop toys feature colorful liquids that flow in mesmerizing patterns that help distract adolescents from the stressors around them.
$9.99 on Amazon
3. Squishy Monster
These colorful monster plush toys feature different textures and materials for endless play. They provide the perfect distraction for little hands—squeeze them, and your child will get a delightful water ball surprise!
These squishy monsters are easy on the hands and non-toxic. They make for excellent stress relief without being too distracting.
$15.99 on Amazon
4. Stress Relief Coloring Book
Creative children may find reprieve in artistic activities like coloring. This stress relief coloring book features 40 adorable pages and simple, visually appealing designs.
Coloring is an excellent outlet for anger, as it promotes creative expression in a non-verbal way, which is helpful for children who struggle to communicate their emotions through words. Finishing a coloring page can also give children a sense of completion and accomplishment.
$7.99 on Amazon
5. Toss N’ Talk About Anger Management Ball
Talking about your feelings isn’t easy, especially when you’re a child with a limited emotional vocabulary. Using the Toss N Talk ball imparts a fun and simple opportunity for inner growth, as it inspires new ways to think about anger.
The ball features questions and prompts for sorting out emotions, including positive affirmations. You can use it to teach your child about deep feelings and how to express them.
$16.18 on Amazon
6. Exploding Emotions Flashcards
Children developing their emotional vocabulary may benefit from this set of Exploding Emotions Flashcards.
The game introduces 140 unique scenarios that can help children get to know their emotions in depth. Some of these scenarios ask what your child would do in certain situations, such as missing the bus or getting into a fight with a friend.
Exploding Emotions is a powerful speech therapy material and is an excellent tool for understanding anger as a secondary emotion. It also helps enhance social skills and self-regulation.
$24.99 on Amazon
7. Globby
Globby is a simple and playful anger management toy for children who enjoy tactile outlets. It’s more robust than a stress toy and is the perfect match for an aggressive fidgeter. Kids can grip him, stretch him, and toss him around.
$8.97 on Amazon
8. Magnetic Pen
Some children fidget naturally when they feel irritable or upset. This magnetic pen is the perfect fidget toy for ADHD, as it offers dozens of configurations. It’s also a functional pen, so children learning to journal can use it after fidgeting.
$11.99 on Amazon
9. Behind the Anger Card Game
When adolescents experience anger, it’s important that they know they aren’t alone. The Behind the Anger card game is an excellent family tool for riding the wave of anger together.
Designed by a family therapist, Behind the Anger aims to address signs of anger issues in teens and children. It features emotion cards that describe anger-adjacent feelings and lists advice for how to deal with such emotions.
$17.99 on Amazon
10. Warm Pals Weighted Stuffed Animal
Smells can trigger positive feelings because of the brain regions that process them [*]. The Warm Pals weighted stuffed animals are chock-full of calming essential oil scents like lavender, which can provide instant relaxation.
The entire Warm Pals line features dozens of animal species, including penguins, cats, dogs, bears, cows, pigs, and more. They are soft, huggable, and fluffy—the perfect fidget toy for anxiety.
$26.95 on Amazon
The Bottom Line
Anger is a regular part of life, but it doesn’t have to become overwhelming. By equipping your child with anger management toys, they can learn to calm themselves quickly and effectively.
Support your child’s journey with anger management worksheets they can use at home, school, and therapy.
Sources:
- Potter-Efron R. “Healing the Angry Brain.” Google Books, 2024.
- Kadriye Sayin Kasar, Saadet Erzincanli, Nesat Tolga Akbas. “The effect of a stress ball on stress, vital signs and patient comfort in hemodialysis patients: A randomized controlled trial.” Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice, 2020.
- Seo JY. “The Effects of Aromatherapy on Stress and Stress Responses in Adolescents.” Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing, 2009.
- Herz R. “The Role of Odor-Evoked Memory in Psychological and Physiological Health.” Brain Sciences, 2016.
