One of the biggest trends to have already come from 2026 is the rise of different stress toys, particularly from the brand Need-Oh. This brand sells a variety of these toys, from cubes filled with a hard slime-like consistency to fuzzy stress balls filled with a more liquid slime.
Finding these items around school is not as rare a sight as it used to be. During the typical school day, stress toys can be found in the hands of many different students, whether they have it in the classroom or in the hallway during passing periods. There was once a large stigma around items such as these being found in school settings. They used to be deemed as distractions and something that took away from the learning environment.
“It helps me calm down. I can do patterns with it to help me focus on my school work,” senior Callie Knott said.
It has been found in some classrooms that some teachers like to offer up these toys to students to help stimulate their concentration. The idea behind it is that if students have somewhere to fidget, they won’t lean on other distractions, such as watching TikToks or playing games on their iPads. It can be seen as a stimulant for the mind, helping kids be able to focus better once they have somewhere to put their distractions, which is not totally keeping them away from their lessons.
Need-Oh has been around for nearly a decade. However due to recent traction on TikTok, the brand has started trending and become more popular among middle school to college student age level. The Need-Oh brand is not the first to have blown up in 2026. The brand RMS USA has recently gone viral for their mystery Bao Bun squishies that can be found in Five Below or Target. The craze around this specific brand comes from the surprise aspect of it. People come in looking for the mystery squishy that are glitter-filled, and in doing so, they end up buying over five as a means to increase their chances of finding the mystery bun.
These bao buns can also be found around St. Dominic; however, they are not as popular as the Need-Oh craze that has taken over. The trend seems as though it is only just tanning off, and not seeming to slow down anytime soon. It is a good recommendation to students to buy some of these toys, if their aisles in store aren’t cleared out already, as a way to help control the need to be distracted or daze off in class. Being almost halfway through the semester, now would be one of the best times to start working on becoming better and improving learning skills through the help of stress toys.
