The Toy Craze Everyone Loves to Hate Could Actually Help Your Child Learn

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PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images

When it comes to fidget toys, you won't find much middle ground.

"I hate it," "They don't do squat," and "COMPLETE FAIL" were a few responses to my Facebook query for parents of fidgeters. The toy craze that took off last spring sent many teachers' heads spinning faster than the ball bearings on the three-lobed trinkets, causing some schools to ban the toys for being too distracting.

But many schools are allowing and even encouraging the use of fidgets to help students focus and learn. Studies show fidgeting can make people calmer and more creative. And the independent toy makers who manufacture fidgets are seeing a surge in sales this back-to-school season.

"Everything fidget is trending up this month," says Josh Loerzel, VP of Sales and Marketing for Zing Toys in Portland, Oregon. The company has a new line of fidgets for fall, including "thumb chucks," two small balls connected by a string, which Walmart is featuring in some back-to-school displays.

Loerzel says he expects to do $20-25 million in fidget sales this year alone.

"It's like white noise when you're trying to sleep," Loerzel says, explaining how manipulating a fidget can calm the mind and decrease distractibility.

Many educators agree. Ferndale Elementary School Principal Diana Keefe says her suburban Detroit classrooms are stocked with squishy balls, waxy sticks, finger puzzles and silicone putty.

"Our school has been using fidgets long before it became cool," says Keefe, who tells students the fidgets are tools, not toys.

"Some students need to busy their hands so the brain can listen and make connections," Keefe says. "It's just like an adult who taps their pencil or doodles." (Doodling, by the way, has been shown to improve memory.)

One popular fidget Keefe keeps on hand for students and parents who come into her office is Crazy Aaron's Thinking Putty. Started by a computer scientist who taught himself chemistry in order to create the silicone substance, this Philadelphia company has been on a "steady trajectory of growth, with the fidget craze working in our favor," according to Carrie Mason, Marketing Manager for Crazy Aaron's Puttyworld.

The company's website encourages squeezing the putty in your right hand while studying, and moving it to your left hand while answering questions. It's based on a study showing that clenching your right hand helps your brain store memories, while squeezing your left hand helps retrieve those memories.

(No-cost alternative: Squeeze your right hand into a fist when you come across information you want to memorize, and squeeze your left hand into a fist when there's something you just can't quite remember.)

In this age of information overload, occupational therapists say it's even more important for students to have access to tools that can help them stay grounded and focused.

"The first thing I tell teachers is that everyone should have access to a fidget," says Carol Taylor, owner and clinical director of Play Matters, an occupational therapy clinic in Atlanta.

Taylor, who points out her husband's penchant for twirling a pencil on conference calls, says the sensory input that comes from handling a fidget can help organize a person's nervous system in whatever way they most need in the moment.

"It can be calming," Taylor says, "or it can help make you more alert."

Mark McLachlan's desire to stay more alert in meetings led to a nearly $6.5 million Kickstarter campaign out of Denver that last year launched "Fidget Cube."

"We believe the way we look at fidgeting needs to change," McLachlan and his brother Matthew wrote on their Kickstarter page, convincing nearly 155 thousand backers to fund "a tangible way to capture your floating attention."

The brothers co-founded Antsy Labs, which manufactures the six-sided cube containing buttons, gears, a joystick, and other tactile outlets for restless energy.

"My brother and I have always been the type of people to walk around while on conference calls, spin back and forth in our chairs at the office, and so on," McLachlan tells me. He's seen a surge in demand as schools across the country gear up for another year of students sitting still and teachers looking for ways to channel scattered attention.

Taylor, the occupational therapist, wants parents to focus on fidgets as accommodations, rather than distractions.

"This is how we self-soothe," she says, "this is the child accommodating themselves. Every parent wants their child to feel comfortable, and this is how it happens."

Taylor does, however, acknowledge the potential disruption inherent in some of the market's more distracting fidget toys. For teachers and parents who hate the idea of fidgets but love the idea of calmer kids, Taylor has two low-cost suggestions: "Stick velcro to the bottom of their desk, or give them paper clips. No noise. And you're making them more comfortable so they can be their best."

The post The Toy Craze Everyone Loves to Hate Could Actually Help Your Child Learn appeared first on inc-asean.com.

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