Decades ago, schools used to discipline kids who couldn’t sit still. Luckily, we know better now—many students move their bodies not to be disruptive, but because doing so helps them feel grounded or process new information. Sensory toys and silent fidget toys can help students keep their hands busy in a way that doesn’t distract their classmates. Here are some of our most popular sensory toys for elementary students.
Animal Mesh Squeeze Balls
These silent fidget toys are a satisfying squeeze, and adorable to boot! What’s great about this particular toy is that it’s something that can be done mindlessly to get nervous energy out without requiring any thinking or attention, so students won’t miss anything important during class.
Purchase Animal Mesh Squeeze Balls
Plastic Diamond Sortable Toys
Therapists often recommend that children who have anxiety keep a smooth stone in their pocket to rub when they feel nervous and need some grounding. These diamonds serve the same purpose. They’re the perfect size for carrying in a pocket or pencil case and feeling the smooth edges is instantly calming.
Purchase Plastic Diamond Sortable Toys
Wacky Sand
For a more traditional sensory toy, you can’t go wrong with Wacky Sand. A staple of sensory tables everywhere, this sand can be shaped and molded without ever making a mess! A fun classroom activity for young elementary students is to have them use Wacky Sand to create shapes, animals, letters, or objects in response to questions.
Fidget-Su Eraser Spinners
These fidget spinners do double-duty as erasers! While some teachers aren’t fond of fidget spinners and feel they’re a distraction, if you have students who can benefit from them, these colorful spinners can’t be beat and they’ll be sure to keep little hands busy, too.
Purchase Fidget-Su Eraser Spinners
Dolphin Blobbles Toys
For the dolphin lovers in your classroom, we’ve got a pod of squishable, squeezable dolphin friends that are filled with colorful jelly orbs. They’re a lot of dol-fun for kids of all ages and they’re small enough that they can be squeezed inside or under a desk for students who don’t want to draw attention to their fidgeting.
Purchase Dolphin Blobbles Toys
Squishy Snack Toys
The sensory toys that look good enough to eat! Fries, burgers, donuts—who can choose when you can have them all? These irresistible fidget toys make a great classroom incentive because kids will have fun collecting and trading them—and they’re only 40 cents each!
Bouncing Putty Packets
Putty is a classic sensory toy, but we’ve given ours a fun twist—it bounces! Our Bouncing Putty Packets are ideal for a sensory table, shaping into letters and numbers for elementary students who are learning to read and spell, and for squeezing away tension and nervous energy.
Purchase Bouncing Putty Packets
Order Sensory Supplies from GEDDES
Visit the GEDDES website to shop our full selection of sensory toys and silent classroom fidgets online, request our catalog today, or contact us to learn more about our products and our mission.