Have you heard of fidget spinners? Originally introduced as a fidget tool for kids with ADHD or autism spectrum disorder, they have exploded in popularity with kids everywhere! My boys heard about them from neighbor kids and wanted one of their own, so we ordered one from Amazon. I’ve gotta say – it’s a fun little gadget that demonstrates some neat properties of physics!

Aidan (age 13) has been working for a couple of weeks to design a fidget spinner out of LEGO® bricks. The real ones spin for a longer time, but his version has a satisfying spin and is a fun build! Challenge kids to build one with our design or to create their own. Can they figure out the best way to distribute the weight and reduce friction between the moving parts?

This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

How to Build a LEGO Fidget Spinner

Hold the fidget spinner by placing one finger on each side.

LEGO Fidget Spinner

Then use your thumb or finger to give it a spin!

LEGO Fidget Spinner

Here are the bricks needed to build one:

LEGO Fidget Spinner

Start by putting a 4 x 4 round plate on both the top and bottom of a 6 x 6 round plate. Slide one of the 2 x 2 round tiles (with a round hole) onto the axle. You’ll need an axle that is 3 studs long with a stud on the end.

Part number for 2 x 2 round tile with hole: 15535

Part number for axle: 6587

LEGO Fidget Spinner

Place the turquoise round plate on the axle. Add another 2 x 2 round tile to the axle. Attach it to the dark red round plate.

LEGO Fidget Spinner

Slide a 2 x 2 round plate (with an x shaped hole) onto the top of the axle. Leave some space so that the spinner is free to turn.

LEGO Fidget Spinner

We found that our spinner would spin for a longer time if we added arms. The additional weight seems to give the spinner more momentum.

Place a 2 x 3 plate under the turquoise round plate. Then add a 2 x 2 plate and another 2 x 3 plate.

LEGO Fidget Spinner

Add all four arms, and your spinner is ready to go!

How to Build a LEGO Fidget Spinner

To spin it, place one finger on each side as shown below.

How to Build a LEGO Fidget Spinner

Have fun building! Here’s a video that shows Aidan’s spinner in action, and he also demonstrates how to build it.


Need more LEGO ideas?

This site is full of LEGO® project ideas, such as a working candy dispenser, minions, STEM projects, and more. Browse through all of our ideas!

You will also want to check out our LEGO® book! It’s called Awesome LEGO® Creations with Bricks You Already Have, and it’s packed with 50 new LEGO® projects. There are robots, dragons, airplanes, animals, working machines, and more. Most LEGO® books don’t have instructions, but ours does! Some of the projects are open-ended or can be figured out with the photos provided, but others have step-by-step instructions.

COMING SOON… OCTOBER 2017! Our second LEGO® book will release on October 10th! Epic LEGO® Adventures with Bricks You Already Have contains five funny stories to read, and then there are step-by-step instructions for each of the projects in the stories. I’m super excited about this one because it will be such a springboard for imaginative play and building! Pre-order now and your copy will arrive on release day.

LEGO® is a trademark of the LEGO® group of companies which does not sponsor, authorize, or endorse this site.

48 Comments

Post a Comment
  1. Gina Bell May 4, 2017

    This is seriously awesome! My boys would love these.

    Reply
    1. Robin May 18, 2017

      I also bought my kids fidget spinners. I read they are stress reducing. I hope they arrive soon :)

      Reply
      1. Aiden May 19, 2017

        They reduce stress and the amount of time your kids pay attention in school. Trust me, I'm a student myself

        Reply
        1. Imani Aug 14, 2018

          I love them, they help me focus and I am a almost 40yr old adult

          Reply
      2. Alexa Dec 11, 2017

        Yeah my mom got this fidget spinner that glowes

        Reply
    2. Sophie May 26, 2017

      thanks a lot ! My pupils can do this in my classroom !

      Reply
  2. Michele Spring May 5, 2017

    THANK YOU - you know how many stores I've gone to in the last few days looking for one of these fidget spinner things? Ack! They are sold out everywhere, and we ordered one on Amazon but it said it won't be here until mid-June (even though when I initially ordered it it said next week). So now my 7 yr old son is upstairs gathering his legos to make this one and is so excited! :-) (Things sure were much easier in the days before they knew what was popular!)

    Reply
    1. Sarah May 6, 2017

      I can't believe Amazon is sold out! We bought one a few weeks ago while they were only mildly popular. Then all of a sudden it exploded! I hope he was able to get the Lego version to work!

      Reply
  3. Janel May 5, 2017

    We almost had all the pieces except for the big circle desk but somehow I managed to tweak it and make it kind of work

    Reply
    1. Sarah May 6, 2017

      That's great! :-)

      Reply
    2. Carly May 8, 2017

      What did you do to tweak it? We don't have the big circle and my son wants to make one...

      Reply
      1. Mark May 12, 2017

        I did not have the large round plate ether so i built it with 4 4/2 plates and put 2/1 plates on the top and bottom of one side and put the 4 arms and put those in the place of the large circle.

        Reply
    3. N.S Jun 9, 2017

      Me too. I didn't have an axle, I just used a broken pole. It works!

      Reply
  4. Meridith May 5, 2017

    Ok. These are not your average pieces.
    Where Does one find these legos to build this spinner?

    Reply
    1. Debbie May 6, 2017

      You can try bricklink.com

      Reply
    2. Sarah May 6, 2017

      The turquoise circle came in one of the yellow classic tubs - I can't remember which one. The other ones are from random sets! We like to use Brick Link for ordering individual pieces. http://bricklink.com

      Reply
      1. Jerri Dyke May 15, 2017

        Thank you @Sarah

        Reply
    3. assasin May 10, 2017

      at your local lego store that holds like all the lego pieces in the back

      Reply
    4. Jerri Dyke May 15, 2017

      I was wondering the same. I was hoping for an Amazon link to buy the pieces.

      Reply
      1. Thomas May 29, 2017

        ToyBurg has all the parts for $1.23 if you are making 6 or more of them. Otherwise you might need to pick and choose stores.

        Reply
    5. LeeAnne McRobb Jul 25, 2017

      They are average pieces if you have a ton of sets. We were able to make dozens mind you we are insane Lego junkies

      Reply
  5. Maria Calzada Oliva May 6, 2017

    Hi! My children have been asking me to buy them a fidge spinner and as I kept saying no she came down two days ago with a homemade lego one, very happy with it!! I don't know how can I send you the photos. Then I show her your pieces and she made the same ine, a bit modified but lovely!

    Reply
    1. Sarah May 6, 2017

      How fun! I'd love to see pictures of her design! You can post pictures on our Facebook page. Here's the link: https://www.facebook.com/FrugalFun4Boys/

      Reply
      1. Mary May 8, 2017

        wow! Thanks for this idea....I think the spinners are a bit annoying :-) but will show the plans to my boys so that they can each make one.

        Reply
  6. Robert May 6, 2017

    Thanks! I enjoyed making this. I have 20,000 Lego pieces so I had all the parts lol

    Reply
  7. Linda May 6, 2017

    We didn't have exact pieces but modified it a bit and they love it

    Reply
  8. Lisa May 7, 2017

    Thank you! The lego fidget was a HUGE success with my boys! We found identical pieces as yours to make one, then had to improvise for the other two. It made for a great learning experience!

    Reply
  9. Kelley Carney May 7, 2017

    Thank you for this share. I can't wait to show and challenge my grandson.

    Reply
  10. Lorena May 8, 2017

    This is awesome! My son is going to love building this.
    The spinners have exploded in popularity at my kids school as well, every child "has to have one" I personally don't see the wow but kids are something else lol
    For parents having a hard time finding them...try your local swap meet or flea market, they are available in abundance there for about 5 bucks. Local 7-11 stores carry them for about 8 bucks.
    My son got a batman spinner for $5 and a light up one for $8
    Build your own is going to blow him away. I can already see my husband pulling out ball bearings to supe it up.

    Reply
  11. Michelle May 8, 2017

    I would find it helpful if you put up the design ID number for each brick it is printed on them

    Reply
    1. Sarah May 9, 2017

      Michelle, I added the design ID number for the hard to find pieces! Those are in the post now.

      Reply
  12. Stephanie May 8, 2017

    How much do peices cost for the spinner

    Reply
  13. Emma May 9, 2017

    Hi the grey small circles are they normal ones with cut outs or others?

    Reply
    1. Sarah May 9, 2017

      The gray circles are 2 x 2 tiles with a round hole - LEGO part #15535

      Reply
      1. Rachel May 19, 2017

        thats the part i can't find (and i was also thinking it would be super awesome to order the parts to make multiples of these, make a printable direction sheet, and give them out as party favors!) but when i search on the lego.com pick a brick section, that number doesn't bring up anything! Had this same problem trying to look up some parts for a lego fidget cube i saw on another blog that had several obscure technic pieces I don't have. Part numbers for all of them, but can't search for them on lego.com? have to awkwardly search by category. Where are these part numbers coming from?

        Reply
        1. Sarah May 20, 2017

          Rachel, the part numbers are located on each LEGO brick. They are very tiny! I don't know why that part number isn't coming up on Lego.com. I agree that their system is cumbersome. Here's a link to the part on Brick Link. I prefer to order from Brick Link because orders arrive much more quickly. It's similar to eBay, but with LEGO bricks. https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=15535&name=Tile,%20Round%202%20x%202%20with%20Hole&category=%5BTile,%20Round%5D#T=C

          Reply
  14. Michelle May 9, 2017

    My son came home today and asked if I would buy him one of these, then this one popped up on my pinterest feed. Thank you so much for the tutorial. He just finished building it and loves it!

    Reply
  15. cari May 10, 2017

    this is awsome! Thanks for sharing. My grandson loves building with legos. He's going to love this.

    Reply
  16. Ben May 13, 2017

    Great works great only took about 20mins to make and find the pieces

    Reply
    1. Kelley Jul 27, 2017

      Hi Ben - were you able to find the pieces in the classic lego set?

      Reply
  17. Gina Spengel May 13, 2017

    Our guy loved it! Spins so well. Thanks for the timely build.

    Reply
  18. Rebecca May 14, 2017

    Cool I love it ???

    Reply
  19. Amanda May 16, 2017

    My kids had so much fun building these! They still begged for store bought spinners and I finally caved. To keep the spinner fun going I created a board game that uses the spinners. We've had so much fun playing it. Its available to download on my blog, http://www.namesakedesign.com/2017/05/are-fidget-spinners-driving-you-crazy.html, if anyone is interested.

    Reply
  20. Melinda May 17, 2017

    For some reason when I asked my principal if he wanted me to teach the kids how to do this he said NO!! I will however be teaching my grandsons to make them, (but not to take to school!!)

    Reply
  21. Patrick Blackburn May 18, 2017

    How do i get the pieces to make the lego spinner without having to buy the whole lego kits to get them

    Reply
    1. Sarah May 20, 2017

      Patrick, we really like to order from Lego.com's Pick A Brick section or from Brick Link. (http://bricklink.com). I actually prefer Brick Link because orders arrive more quickly. The site works like eBay with many different sellers.

      Reply
  22. Estelle May 18, 2017

    Hello,
    I didn't foundd all the piece in the brick shop lego to built this spinner hand.
    Where can I found it ? please
    Sorry I'm french

    Reply
  23. Misty Cox May 23, 2017

    My son is so excited about this!!!

    Reply
  24. lillian May 24, 2017

    Mine was a little different becuase I didn't have the same any of it but it still worked

    Reply
  25. angela mckinney May 26, 2017

    awesome it looks so cool but i have two fidget spinners but i lost my in the coach when i was spinning it every day i try to get it out but i can't so when my mom takes the coach apert i will get it i hope one day my mom can get it outany ways love your videos!!!!

    Reply
  26. Thelma May 30, 2017

    Genius! My son took one look at this and ran for his Lego box! Thanks for the terrific idea!
    xoxo

    Reply
  27. Carissa Bonham Jun 4, 2017

    Thanks for the great post! I went to Bricks and Minifigs today to get all the pieces to make it and they said this last week your tutorial has become so popular that they are all out of those round pieces! I ended up finding a different way to make a fidget spinner that I published on my site today but I still link back to you because yours is great. Good job!

    Reply
  28. Debbie Jun 12, 2017

    This is such a great project. I would love to kits together to have the kids make them at school. The only trouble is you can not get the Lego to make the spinner. If you have ore resources than I know of it would be great to share. The Lego site does not have all the pieces for sale to do this project.

    Reply
    1. Sarah Jun 13, 2017

      Try Brick Link! (http://bricklink.com). I just ordered more of the 2 x 2 gray tiles with the hole in the center. You can find all of the pieces there! Just keep in mind that the site is made up of many different vendors, like eBay.

      Reply
  29. Liz P Jun 23, 2017

    Love it! Great way to save $10.
    My 7 year old's hands were too small to make it spin smoothly so we replaced the 2x6 and 2x2 plates with 2x2s and 1x2s and used a 5-stud axle. He's thrilled with his new fidget spinner.

    Reply
  30. Sam Jul 3, 2017

    I love my new fidget spinner!!! thx so much:D

    Reply
  31. kelly Jul 11, 2017

    This is great, my son & I just spent a fun hour putting together "lego fidget spinner challenge" kits to use at his birthday party, thank you for the great idea!

    Reply
  32. zafar Jul 20, 2017

    […] Build a LEGO Fidget Spinner […]

    Reply
  33. LeeAnne McRobb Jul 25, 2017

    Crazy my son is 10 and had this design mastered months ago along with dozens of other designs. He was being offered money at his school to purchase the spinners. His design is almost the same using less bricks making it somewhat lighter and having more spinning action. But great job to Aidan and all the master builders out there :))

    Reply
  34. Tessa Aug 20, 2017

    I just fineshed making this with my son, he loves it ! Thank you for sharing!

    Reply
  35. kasam tere pyaar ki Oct 6, 2017

    to build a Lego fidget spinner from Frugal Fun for Boys and Girls using 2×2 and 2×3 Lego plates. No bearings required for this spinner

    Reply
  36. kasamterepyaarki Oct 7, 2017

    This is great, my son & I just spent a fun hour putting together “lego fidget spinner challenge” kits to use at his birthday party, thank you for the great idea!

    Reply
    1. Sarah Oct 9, 2017

      Oh that's great! :-)

      Reply
  37. Dekho.to Oct 10, 2017

    my brother is crazy about fidget spinner will try this tonight with him :)

    Reply
  38. Tom Nov 12, 2017

    That's great thanks for tips Sarah!

    Reply
  39. Alexa Apr 11, 2018

    Thats cool

    Reply
  40. parmeet singh Apr 18, 2018

    thanks for sharing beaultiful post

    Reply
  41. Bilal Khan Dec 26, 2018

    my childhood was awesome with that .. nice article .. :)

    Reply
  42. Sajjad Ahmad Jan 5, 2019

    This is helpful to make domestic fidget with bricks great ideas.

    Reply
  43. Asad Feb 7, 2019

    Wow! this tutorial is very helpful to build a fidget spinner. thanks!

    Reply
  44. prabin shrestha Feb 19, 2019

    This tutorial is very nice to build a fidget spinner for my son! thanks for your a great idea

    Reply
  45. Infolearning Feb 21, 2019

    Amazing Lego Mega Constructions That Are Just Too Majestic http://www.dailyamericanbuzz.com/2015/05/amazing-lego-mega-constructions-that.html

    Reply
  46. Hunter Mar 21, 2020

    thanks sarah I am a Lego freak and yours was the first spinner I made out of legos andnow I have 5 different ones

    Reply
  47. Gopal dhoke May 29, 2020

    This is very good post thanks for sharing us

    Reply
  48. Rachel Aug 2, 2022

    We couldn't find the right kind of axle and couldn't get it spinning quite right, so we took a second circle plate with a hole in the center and turned the fidget spinner into a top by setting plate on the floor, putting the end of the axle into the hole on the circle plate, and spinning the axle like a top. My 9 year old is highly entertained!

    Reply

Post a Comment