Attention! Finding the perfect fidget is not so hard, but understanding how and when to use them is important. Fidgets can be soft, hard, squishy and tactile. They can encourage motor play, motor planning, eye-hand coordination, calming, as well as focus and attention. Using a fidget for play seems simple enough but the benefits are far more than a boredom buster. These fidgets can be used to actually assist with test taking, schoolwork, and other times when focused brain activity is needed. How does that work? Let’s take a look and find out how fidgeting can improve and enhance brain activity to encourage better focus and attention.
Intrinsic Hand Development
Some of the most appealing fidgets are balls contained within balls. As the hand massages the ball, the balls within the fidget slide through its aqueous gel providing intrinsic hand development. The mini muscles of the hand and fingers get quite a workout sending a wake-up call to the brain. This can significantly impact cognition.
Some fidgets are quite tactile, either feeling soft or somewhat tacky, all part of tactile discrimination and awareness. This different feel impacts the skin (touch) and deep touch pressure (proprioceptive) receptors which in turn may help promote focus, attention and calming.
Cause and Effect
For individuals with neurological challenges a fidget that encourages the awareness of cause and effect can draw attention and promote concentration. At the same time the operation hand gets quite a workout. Try alternating hands to see the difference in hand control and strength. A fidget with pop apart pieces can encourage visual processing as well.
Upper Body Workout
Finding a fidget that can exercise the entire arm, shoulder girdle and hand is a real winner! By doing so not only do you get a more focused individual who can learn to follow directions, but you also get better positioning of the upper body. By pulling and stretching the shoulder blades retract, the shoulder girdle settles in, the forearm contracts and the hand squeezes down. The result is a winner!
So whether you are headed off to pre-school, grade school, high school, college or the workplace, taking along a fidget can mean the difference between boredom and engagement and you may just have others who wonder how you do it!