Try these fun activities with a fidget spinner
Here’s a way to put those ubiquitous fidget spinners to use that will get kids moving more than just their fingers and will relieve stress in a whole different way. After seeing fitness guru Dai Manuel use a fidget spinner in his daily workout, we’ve taken his original fun idea and adapted it for younger kids. Each activity helps develop movement skills. Thanks to Dai and family for the inspiration!
Here’s how it works
Take the fidget spinner and place it on the floor or flat part of the ground. If you have a group participating, each person gets to take a turn spinning and also chooses the movement that the group will do together for as long as the fidget spinner keeps spinning. As soon as it stops, everyone stops moving and the next person takes a turn. You can decide as a group how long you’ll keep it up for. Dai and his family chose to keep moving for 15 minutes and that worked great. The time flies by because everyone is having so much fun spinning and moving.
List of movements to choose from:
- Hopping on your right foot
- Hopping on your left foot
- Balancing on your right foot
- Balancing on your left foot
- Skipping
- Jumping
- Running (on the spot if you don’t have a lot of space)
- Sprinting
- Throw a ball into a bucket or large bin (have a bunch of balls ready so you don’t have to retrieve the original)
- Bouncing a ball
- Crab walk
- Bear crawl
- Playing catch
- Keeping a volley going with tennis or badminton racquets
- Galloping
- Jump rope
- Tightrope walk
- Freestyle – make up your own movement for the group to try!
This activity is perfect for classrooms, camp groups, playdates, and siblings looking for something fun to do at home.
