Fidget Popper Feelings
Katie Taylor, CCLS Child Life On Call for SmileMakers Inc
If you are around children regularly, chances are you’ve seen fidget poppers. Pediatric patients, as well as my kids, trade them, pop them, and I've found them in every crevice of my home. I'm not surprised that they are the new "thing," and I've found ways to integrate them into therapeutic activities with my patients.
One of the best ways I've found to use fidget poppers is by connecting them to the goal of exploring feelings.
Not only are we using physical energy which provides tactile sensory input, but I've seen kiddos who focus on pushing the colorful dots to help relieve stress, anxiety, or even pent-up energy. While fidget poppers can be used both during procedures and for rapport building, there is also an opportunity to use them as a way to discuss and identify feelings.
When going to SmileMakers.com, I knew I wanted to use the Dino Fidget Poppers that have five colorful bubbles that can be used to identify either different feelings or the bubbles could be used to discuss triggers to a feeling.
To understand the child's understanding of the word feelings, I ask them to help me come up with 5 big feelings to correspond with a specific color. Here are the top 5 big feelings that come up often:
● Green = mad
● Purple = scared
● Blue = sad
● Pink = happy
● Yellow= worried
With older children and adolescents, I like that we can use the fidget poppers to communicate with each other instead of just using words.
Rather than just referring to many different options, we get specific about one. Encourage your patients to identify experiences around a certain emotion. Here's an example of using the fidget popper with the emotion "sad."
- Orange = saying goodbye to someone I love
- Green = not being in school and seeing friends when I'm sick
- Purple = feeling sick or in pain
- Yellow = missing friends
- Pink = being away from home
In addition to this specific activity, fidget poppers can be used as a tool to promote focus and keep them engaged with an activity they need to pay attention to. The benefits are:
• They are designed to be highly visible
• Easy for children to see and play with
• Great for helping hands busy
• And my personal favorite, you can CLEAN them!
How would you use a fidget popper in your practice?
