Keeping hands busy can help us regulate
Touching, squeezing, stretching, twisting, turning or repeating a simple movement can provide sensory input and an activity on which to focus attention. For many people, manipulation can become a useful means of self-regulation, helping to channel restlessness, maintain concentration or find a calmer state.
What you will find here
This category brings together resources designed to be handled freely or repetitively, where the sensory experience of manipulation itself is an important part of their purpose.
You will find:
- Fidgets and small hand-held sensory objects.
- Squeezable, stretchable, flexible or twistable resources.
- Tactile objects for repetitive manipulation.
- Materials that offer different textures, resistance or movement.
- Other resources that can help channel the need to keep hands active.
There is no single way to use these resources. Some people may seek continuous movement, others pressure or resistance, and others simply a small object to manipulate while listening, waiting or concentrating on another activity.
The aim is not to keep the hands occupied for its own sake, but to offer a simple and accessible resource that each person can use according to their own sensory and regulatory needs.