In the last 10 years or so there has been an explosion of fidget toys and toys to help calm children. I have nothing against calm children, my question is why do they need to be calmed? In my experience in schools lately a classroom full of kids will spend most of their day sitting in a chair and using a computer. Sometimes they interact with other students sometimes but much of the work is on the computer. Is this a lack of sensory feedback? Do they use fidgets as a way to stay calm?

Sensory feedback in a modern classroom

• sitting quietly in a chair
• typing on a computer
• using a touch pad
• basket of fidgets and a calm down corner
• wearing headphones
• walking to and from specials (gym, art, music)
• recess of 20-30 mins There is play equipment but many kids climb to the top of the structure and just sit. (I have noticed that the kids often do not know what to do during recess. Some may play basketball but they spend a lot of time standing or walking around. They do not know how to start up a game of tag or an imaginary game)
• eating bland food from cafeteria or bringing lunch from home
• climate controlled so no one is too hot or cold
• hopefully the school has a library. Some schools do not.

Sensory Feedback in school from 20+ years ago

• sitting quietly in a chair
• moving desks around when doing group work
• the smell and sound of chalk or whiteboard markers
• the feeling of writing with chalk or whiteboard markers
• the sound and the feeling of sharpening pencils in a manual pencil sharpener
• walking to and from special classes (gym, art, music)
• recess before school, and once or twice during the day
• recess we played jump rope, football, basketball, played in the sandbox, tag, raced across the monkey bars, and made up games and chose captains with eeny meeny miney mo. We had contests of who could run the fastest, climp to the top faster, jump higher, jump rope the longest, jump off the swing and land the farthest (when teacher’s aid was not looking). Recess was a full body experience and we came into the room panting and sweating.
• Helping put jump ropes, balls, chalk etc. away at the end of recess
• school had no air conditioning and some schools were drafty. The boiler was finicky and some rooms were really hot while others were cold.
• clapping the chalkboard erasers!
• only getting a drink from the fountain in the hall (sometimes the water was cold, sometimes not. It always seemed to have a metallic taste)
• eating bland food from the cafeteria or bringing lunch from home
• reading from a book where you had to turn pages not just tap a screen
• the smell of the library
• recess was almost every day. Even when it was raining, snowing, windy, cold etc.
• inside recess was boardgames, art and socializing. We did not use our individual computers to entertain ourselves.

Are fidgets a quick fix for a more pressing issue?

As a society are we experiencing a kind of sensory deprivation? We are kept so comfortable we don’t experience temperature changes. We move so little that we have to create movement with fidgets just to regulate ourselves. Is this why there is such an increase in anxiety and acting out behavior, a lack of emotional regulation?

Here are some sensory integration ideas. Would allowing children to have more sensory feedback help them regulate their bodies and their emotions? Would allowing more recess and unstructured social time build confidence and help students focus? Help kids maintain a healthy weight? Give them the sensory feedback through their entire bodies. Certainly companies that make fidgets certainly don’t want you to try that.