Thursday, January 12, 2012

Exploring Geometric Shapes with Your Fidget Belt

When you're a preschooler, math is all about counting little bears and exploring geometric shapes.  When you have limited reach and grasp, sometimes those little manipulatives try to run away from you.
Here are two math-themed fidget belts, looped around our sweetie's wheelchair tray.  Both of them have spacers which help separate the beads and other objects I gathered from different toy baskets in the classroom.
If the fidget belt slides off the wheelchair, use a small piece of duct tape to temporarily affix a small portion of it under the wheelchair tray.
Connecting loops of the same belt material are used to allow the student to lift the pieces a few inches off the surface of the tray, yet not high enough to accidentally hit himself in the face.  If your student has difficulty with neck extension and frequently falls forward on the wheelchair tray, you'll want to select very soft materials to string on the belt.
 Even the white spacer pieces can be used to practice grasp and bilateral coordination.
Wouldn't it be fun to have several fidget belts, corresponding with familiar preschool stories, community helpers, transportation.....?

The items on this fidget belt can be easily washed, still attached to the belt.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

LOVE this idea - thank you for sharing!