THE WHY & HOW OF FIDGETING

June 16, 2022

‘Stop fidgeting!’ how many times have we found ourselves blurting this out irritably to a child?

Instead of asking ‘how can we stop this?’, ‘why are they doing this?’, ‘Why must they have something in their hands?’ we should understand why it is so important for their development.

From birth to early childhood, children use their senses to try to make sense of the new world around them. The physical and emotional desire to see, smell, hear, touch, and taste things that are within reach are all new to them. And, as a child grows, the need to explore these senses and engage with them increases.

Sensory play needs to be encouraged from a young age to allow children this exploration and investigation, whilst having the opportunity to form a hypothesis, experiment and make a conclusion. This process is very important to allow our developing persons to refine their thresholds for different sensory information and learn which ones are useful and which ones can be filtered out.

Research has proved that children and adults learn best and retain the most information when their senses are engaged. So sensory play helps lead to a child’s ability to complete more complex learning tasks and supports cognitive growth, motor skills, social interaction, and problem-solving skills.

We may not realize it, but we all fidget. With children it is more apparent as they have not learned to disguise their feelings and emotions that are shown through fidgeting; tapping on something, chewing their clothing, twirling their hair or sometimes through an inability to sit still. They may be feeling bored, anxious, or frustrated. And for many, it can be because they are struggling to concentrate and focus.

Sensory play and fidget toys are exactly what children with extra sensory input need to help them focus. The more input they get, the more alert and organized their minds can be. By using a fidget toy, a child may be able to better ‘filter out’ excess sensory information in their surroundings and within their own body, which is causing them distraction, and instead encourages this sensory information to be focused on through using a fidget toy in their hands.

Understanding the WHY and the HOW are at the core of our new ZIP & POP Boxes. Fiddle, fidget, pop, and squish, these multipurpose boxes offer a fidget relief at school and at home and will keep little hands busy in playful fun.

FOOTNOTE

We are excited to add be able to share with you that ZIP & POP has recently won acclaim in the form of 2 Creative Child Magazine awards: 'KIDS PRODUCT OF THE YEAR' 🏆 & 'CREATIVE PLAY OF THE YEAR' 🏆

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