DIY Fidget Toys for Girls with ADHD

Kids have transformed the therapy tool of fidget spinners into the next big collection craze. Kids who were bottle flipping are now performing tricks with their fidget spinners. Fidgets were originally meant as therapy tools for kids with attention and sensory issues, not as toys. If your girls need to move, these DIY fidget tools and DIY fidgets for girls will help boost concentration and attitudes in the classroom and at home during homework time.

Fidgets are just one more tool you can use that helps make parenting girls with ADHD easier.

If your girls need to move, these DIY fidget tools and DIY fidgets for girls will help boost concentration and attitudes in the classroom and at home

Do Girls Need Fidgets?

Thanks to fidget spinners suddenly exploding in popularity, now the use of fidget toys is a hotly debated topic. Some poeple claim they are a distraction and cause more trouble than good, while others claim fidgets help kids with concentration issues focus. Studies on fidgeting for kids with ADHD support the latter claim.

My ADHD girls NEED to move. In fact, they cannot sit still. It’s not a discipline issue for them. Before we knew my eldest had ADHD, we tried “training” her to sit still, but it was impossible. Even if she was *mostly* still, she still wiggled a foot, twitched her fingers, shifted in her seat, or looked wildly around the room.

Research suggests that for kids with ADHD and other sensory processing disorders, they NEED to move for information to click in their minds. Stop them from moving, and they stop learning.

But, since our classrooms aren’t usually equipped for movement (although, thankfully, that is changing in a lot of schools), fidgets can help provide an outlet for the restless energy that kids with ADHD have.

Without these tools, kids with ADHD will tend to fidget anyway, by picking at clothing, biting pencils, chewing straws, tapping on the desk, kicking their chairs, shifting position, popping in and out of their seat, rocking, twirling hair, chewing fingernails, biting their lips, and other self-destructive behavior.

So, in our family, we are definitely pro fidget for kids who need them.

If you want to weigh in on the debate of distractions/benefits of fidgets for kids, my friend Dayna has an excellent post on the topic: five reasons to ban fidget spinners.