It’s been a long time since we have reviewed a fidget, and truthfully, we haven’t tried anything new in a while until recently. We have a couple kiddos (foster and adoptive) in our home right now who really struggle to stay in their seats during meals or other times which they would normally be sitting in a chair. We have in the past let them stand to eat, but this stopped working when standing led to aimless wandering instead of focusing on whatever the task at hand was.
Darren, my husband, had seen on Pinterest a fidget idea which is simply a strip of stretchy spandex material with the ends sewn together which is then stretched around the chair legs. We decided it was worth a try, so for a few bucks we picked up some material from a local craft store, our crafty teen daughter cut it into strips and sewed the ends together, and we wrapped it around the front of our dining room chairs.
Success! This Fidget Does Perform!
The children have different options when using them. They can put their feet behind all of the material for greater resistance when pushing or kicking their legs forward, or they can place their legs between the material for less resistance but also allowing for resistance whether pushing forward or backward. One thing we did not do when creating these fidgets that we have seen online is using wider strips of fabric, which would allow the users to pull the fabric up over their lap simulating the feeling of a weighted lap blanket.
“These fidgets have made a world of difference in activities like eating a meal or sitting down with in-home therapists.”
These fidgets have made a world of difference in activities like eating a meal or sitting down with in-home therapists. The two who have used them have been able to sit and focus much longer than was previously possible, and they really like them. They just swing away and eat or talk. If they begin to get up from the table without reason, which usually happens because they forgot to use the fidget when they first sat down, it just takes a simple, “Are your feet in your fidget?” to get them back and focused.
Now the other kiddos are asking for their own chair fidgets, and we’re thinking it’s time to go get some more spandex!
