If you're listening to that music podcast with Bryson Tarbet, the curriculum designer and educational consultant behind that music teacher at the elementary music summit each week, Bryson and his guests will dive into the reality of being an elementary music teacher, and how music can truly be transformative in the lives of the students you serve. Show Notes and resources mentioned in this episode can be found at that music teacher.com.
Hello, everyone, and welcome back to that music Podcast. Today, we're gonna be talking all about sensory fidgets. And actually, I'm going to be repurposing a piece of content that I made a while back that honestly didn't get seen by many, many people. And I've had a lot of people asking me about the fidgets that I use in my classroom, how I implement them, which ones I use, which ones I avoid, and I go over this all in this video that you're about to see. So this was recorded in December of 2022. But it's still really valuable. It still talks about all the features that I use, how I use them, and how I make sure that they're not absolutely driving me. absolutely bonkers. So I hope you enjoy this blast from the past that listening to Bryson from 2020 to but I've posted something yesterday about fidgets and they got a lot of discussion, a lot of people messaging, you know, asking like, Well, how do you actually do this? How do you put fidgets into your your classroom without it'd be an absolute chaos? And the first answer is it's kind of chaos for a little bit. And I know that's probably not the answer you necessarily want. But it's it can go quick. i I'll be honest, I never really formally introduced fidgets to anyone. Typically, you know, my school has a pretty good job does a really good job at making sure that kids know that, you know if they need it, basically they get introduced, like our school counselor does a lot of stuff like that. But I believe I just basically my kids, they kind of figure out because the other kids asked for it. You know, I have a box fidget some kids asked me they're curious. So for instance, today in kindergarten and kindergarten, I never say hey, here's all these fidgets you can use because that would be absolute chaos. But I've had kids that use fidgets all year round, or so far the entire year. And we today it was kind of the first day where they realized, oh, I can do that, too. And it was fine. You know, the kids that, you know, I have the fidgets that I have there was nobody fighting over how many, you know, oh, well, he got this one, I get that. And you know, I have what I have, and I just made it clear, you know that, hey, if you're, if you're going to be using them that will help you I love that. When we do as a game or something, you're gonna have to put it away. But you know, if we're working at the board at that's helping you learn, that's awesome. As long as you being safe and not distracting yourself or others, you're gonna be able to keep it. And the kids did great. You know, I had a couple of students where, you know, they got their warning I usually give, especially the younger kids, especially as they're getting used to the fidgets. They're like, Oh, I'll kind of get like a little warning about you. Hey, you know, if we're, if we're not gonna use this safely, or make sure you're not distracting others, you know, I'd be I'll be really obvious, I'll be say, hey, you know, you know, Johnny, right? The way you're fleeing that around and makes me a little nervous, because I feel like someone might get hit. If you continue to do that you're gonna have to put away and I would hate to have to do that. And if they keep doing it, they get to put it away. But eventually, the kids get to know they figure it out. And they figure out what they what's expected of these fidgets. So let's talk about some of the fidgets. So fun fact, I was not looking to buy more fidgets. But on Black Friday, Amazon had these I think after like a couponing. It's like 10 bucks for all these. And there are definitely some of these that I will not use in my classroom just because of what they are. But there's a lot of really good ones, for instance, so here are the like, take these out. So the first one I have I love these, they're like little mesh. They're like really sturdy mesh with a marble in it. Because personally, I like this because I can go back and forth and just kind of move it around. It's these are I will say these are really hard to break. I have had a student that somehow I ended up one of my students, and all of a sudden, he handed it back and there was a marble broken and I'm like, Okay, I didn't know that was an option. But they're really sturdy, and they just kind of you kind of go back and forth. What I like about these is they're quiet. They don't make any sound. They're not distracting. That's what I like about these. These are great. They come in all kinds of different colors. So I actually I think I have like four or five of these in my classroom. Because they again, they're Quiet quiet digits are my favorite features. Another one that came in this is a squishy. I don't just quit she's there gross. Personally, I love squishies but having kids share them that's not really my cup of tea. Another one that really good are the peapods let's even get it up to the camera. Lucy forgets focus slowly. It's just these peas. I personally don't like these but I have had some students that do basically you just kind of push in the little. Well, please come out. I don't like these. They kind of hurt my hands a little bit so they're not my favorite. But you might have students that really like it. I like this middle In the middle is not too bad. But honestly, I feel like I have to really kind of like squish my thumb to make this work. So these have you guys ever seen these before? These are actually one of the first fidgets that I ever found. I saw that I was like, what is that was the whole thing. But yeah, this is another one. I have a couple not really the favorite. Again, I don't like them either. But anyway, each each its own. And I'm sure we're all aware of pop sockets, not pop sockets, goodness pot. What do they call my brain complete? What? Puppets puppets, puppets. So I'm partial to puppets. What's nice about pop is it's kind of the fad starting to kind of wear off. So the kids aren't like super super into it unless they like actually is going to help them. But I'm not a huge fan, because they they do make sound. I like these smaller ones. Because I mean, goodness, you can get giant ones. But I like the smaller ones because they're small. And they're just kind of here to help a student not like make the whole thing. I feel like the bigger ones sometimes can get distracting, which is not my fee or thing but again, teach their own. This is one that personally I have a few of these, they're not the favorite of the kids, though. Beyond that I have I don't even know what to call this, this little snake left, right? Joint thing. I'm not a huge fan, because these can make noise. But I do have in my classroom, because out of all the noises that are being made, I mean that you're quiet. So like, I'm not going to be super against it. The kids will be like, Hey, you can actually make it shorter. So like if it does get broken, you can make it smaller. The kids like to try to figure out how to turn it into like a snake or something which is hard because every other turn is like at a right angle. These are good. Again, I don't know what you would call this, but we would kind of move forward. And then that's kind of the main ones. The only other one are these and I like these. But I sure as teachers, we can all figure out why these are not great in the classroom. They instantly turn into literally as I was taking pictures of these. The other day, I literally hit myself in the face so hard that I saw stars. So I don't really like using these my classroom because they can turn into chaos. And they like to do this and things like that. Which isn't the best. But you know, there might be students in a time that kind of does well, fidgets spinners. Absolutely not, that's not happening. I'm here this, the last one are these little by chain things. They're quiet, they can go right into your your palm, whoo. Let's see if you close my face. I'm still working on their camera on Facebook. But they can go really kind of go in your palm and they be quiet and they're small. Beyond that, those are kind of really the only ones that I use. Again, this thing kind of came up some bigger pockets. I'm not a huge fan of the bigger pockets just because they I feel like the bigger ones tend to be a little bit more distracting. And then this particular thing if it's came with this too, which is absolutely not going into my classroom as a fidget. They might go as an instrument. Okay, I dropped it, obviously. But it's this thing. Yeah, that's not a good fidget. I'm not going to give my kids this as a fidget. I hope you enjoyed this week's episode of that music podcast. Again, sensory budgets are incredibly important. Me personally, I love using fidgets. I think they're a great way to make sure that my classroom is more accessible. It's easy. You'll likely have money in your special ed budget or some sort of SEL fund or something in your district that you can get these for your classroom without having to pay for them. And quite honestly, even if you do have to pay for them, you can really find them online pretty cheap. Again, thank you so much for watching this week's episode. As always, if you could do us a HUGE favor and leave us a review wherever you're watching, you're listening to this episode that would be extremely appreciated. That really helps us understand which episodes are most enjoyed what we can do better in the podcast, as well as he's kind of giving us a little bit of a reminder that there are people on the other side listening and it's not just me talking to myself with cat here today. So with that being said, I hope you have a wonderful rest of your week and I will see you next time.
