There are numerous reasons for fidgety kids and I will touch on that in a future post. For now here are some of my more successful tips for getting your fidgety child to sit relatively still:
Hard work breaks
These allow children to expend their extra energy so they can calm their bodies and focus. Some of the ones I use most often include:
- Rearranging the classroom or bedroom
- Animal walks ( walk like a crab, a bear, jump like a rabbit)
- Trying to push the wall back an inch.
- Carrying or pushing a box of toys/ books/laundry basket to where they belong
- Scooter board rockets ( lay or sit on the scooter board and push with feet off a wall)
Sensory break
I have heard the term sensory break used for hard work breaks in some article but I feel they are similar but not the same. I feel sensory breaks or just that more sensory oriented like swing, bouncing which will affect a child’s vestibular system. Some of my favorite sensory breaks include:
- Swing
- Bouncing on a ball
- Yoga
- Beanbag squishes ( have the child sit in or under a bean bag)
- Body sock time ( a spandex bag that I child can sit/stand in and push on the sides)
- Crashing ( my crash mats are mattress covers filled with foam leftovers in it)
- Earphones with calming/ or stimulating music
- Over stimulation breaks ( sitting in a darker room, ear protection)
- Darkroom with projector images on the wall
Feet fidgets
Feet fidget easy, cheap and effective way of allowing a child to fidget in place. The ones I use most often include:
- A pool noodle strung on a bungee cord and connected to the desk legs or the legs of a chair.
- A thera band from the dollar store wrapped around the desk or chair legs
- I have put microfiber mop heads under children feet ( child has to be in socks for this to work) for them to rub their feet along
- A piece of foam for a footrest
Balls, wobble seats
I have mixed emotions about wiggle seats. I agree they work for some children with strong core muscles but for those that don’t, it is not a great base of support for them to do their work. Children without strong cores tend to wrap their feet around or rotate their pelvis to stabilize themselves which is not beneficial either. If you are using a wiggle seat it doesn’t need to be expensive. Here are just a couple of ideas:
- A deflated ball instead of expensive wobble cushion
- Piece of foam on their seat
- Ball in a create to stabilize it
Finger fidgets
There are so many fidgets out there from fidget spinners and cubes, to worry rocks and pencil toppers. In my life skills group, I use them often but mine don’t cost a fortune. The group’s favorites include:
- Two paper clips looped together
- Playdoh
- beads on a pipe cleaner
- nuts and bolts
- balloons filled with flour, cornstarch and water, sugar, marbles or water beads
- fabric marble mazes
I do use some bought fidgets also like:
- Fidget spinners
- Hand putty
- Squishy dollar store toys
- Chinese finger traps sown shut with marbles inside