Mark Arnold believes your group is not complete without a ’fidget box’, which could be for anyone, but especially those with additional needs
Autumn is a fabulous time of the year, so many changes in the natural world and so many treasures to look for and find! We’ve been making a natural fidget box, maybe you would like to make one with the children with additional needs in your group too?
There are loads of wonderful, sensory, things that you can add to a natural fidget box. Here are the things we’ve found and added to ours, as well as some ‘extras’ that we’ve included in our natural fidget box too!
Pine cones
We live near some pine woods so we’ve gathered these lovely cones for our fidget box. They are wonderful to feel and explore with our fingers.
Wooden batons
These lovely, tactile wooden batons were cut from fallen branches in the woods near our home. They are smooth but have little rough sensory bits too!
Conkers
We had to walk a bit to where there is an avenue of horse chestnut trees, but it was worth it to get these smooth conkers (be careful if you use these that you supervise their use as they could be a choke hazard). Great to hold and rotate in the palm of our hand!
Feathers
Where we live borders the countryside, so there are plenty of pheasant feathers. There are lots of other lovely feathers that you can find though, just remember to wash them first so that they are nice and clean. Great sensory items to stroke with.
Shells
We also live near the sea (we know, we’re very lucky), so we could go and pick up some nice sea shells to add to the fidget box. Again, remember to wash them first. Shells are very tactile and sensory; calming to feel.
Pebbles or cobble stones
Find some nice smooth rounded stones, their weight can be really sensory, and for an enhanced sensory experience pop them in the fridge to cool them down!
Scrunchy autumn/fall leaves
Collect some fallen autumn leaves, they are beautiful to look at and are scrunchy to feel! If you like you can stick them to a piece of paper to keep them longer.
We’ve also added a few ‘bought’ items for our fidget box, but have tried to have them in keeping with the natural approach as much as possible, which, for example, means no plastic. Here’s some of them…
A colouring book and pencils A natural linen scarf Painted wooden dominoes
Painted wooden maracas Painted wooden twist-lock blocks
Wooden box
Finally, you’ll need a nice wooden box to put everything in. We’ve found one that we can paint or decorate to make it look special. You could find one at a craft store or online.
So, how about creating your own autumn natural fidget box! It will be lots of fun exploring and collecting, putting it all together, thinking about all the things that God has made… and you’ll enjoy using the fidget box throughout the winter… maybe you could then make a spring one! Get collecting!
