Hey there and welcome back! Well, today is the final segment of our 4 part series, Simple Things You Can Do With…. And today we are talking about one of my all time favorite toys, Squigz! There is just something about this toy! I don’t know if it’s the fun shapes and sizes, the versatility, or the popping sound, but I just love this toy. I have found so many uses for it over the past year and I wanted to share a few of my favorites with you today. If you are interested in purchasing Squigz you can check out these links:
Now that we have the basics, let’s jump into those activities:
Hand Strength
- I have found that kids of various levels of ability are able and motivated to grab and pull on Squigz making them a great tool for hand or grip strengthening. The resistance the suction cup makes challenges muscles in the hand and arm. To work on this activity all you have to do is stick the toys to a surface and let your kiddo pull them off. While some surfaces work better for adhesion than others, I have found that Squigz stick well to doors, kitchen counters and appliances, cookie sheets, tile or laminate type flooring, and wheelchair trays. Basically any surface that is solid, smooth and shiny will work.
- Once your child is able to pull the Squigz off with ease, you can increase the difficulty by timing them or asking them to pull only certain colors off of the surface.
Reaching
- I love to work on reaching activities with many of my students. Reaching activities are super efficient because they work on so many skills at one time. Reaching can improve strength, balance, coordination, and visual tracking. When using Squigz, I place them overhead to encourage full use of the arm and to engage the core muscles. If I place the Squigz high enough, kids can work on standing on their toes too.
- Reaching with Squigz can also be done in the sitting position. You can use a door or kitchen appliance as as a vertical surface to place the toys on, or you can stand in front of your child with the Squigz attached to a cookie sheet. The cookie sheet allows you to move the targets around.
Balance
- There are several fun ways to work on balance using Squigz. One of the easiest is to place them on the ground. Ask your child to squat down and pull them off the floor. As the child pulls and the suction cup releases, the child’s balance is challenged. Their bodies will have to use their muscles and balance reactions to keep themselves from falling.
- You can also line the Squigz up on the floor (or a cookie sheet placed on the floor) and place a ping pong ball on each Squig. Then ask your child to stand on one foot and kick the balls off. This activity is great for working on standing balance and unilateral stance (standing on one foot).
Following Commands and Sequencing
- The ability to follow a series of commands, or do things in a specific sequence is a very important skill for kids learn. Following commands can be as simple as a one step command like, Put this toy in your room. And then increase with complexity as you add more items.
- Sequencing is the ability to do things in a specific order. This skill is really important in a variety of settings. In school your teacher might ask you to put your name on your paper and then do specific problems on the page. At home you might be trying to cook and need to follow the specific steps in a recipe.
- Squigz provide an easy way to work on both of these skills. You can place a bunch of Squigz on a surface and give your child a one or two step command like give me a blue one then give me a green one.
- You work on sequencing much the same way. Ask your child to place Squigz on the surface in a specific order like blue, green, then yellow.
Obstacle Course
- You guys know I love a good obstacle course. And Squigz are another great tool you can use to create them. A few of my favorite obstacles are:
- lining up a row of Squigz for kids to step , jump, or hop over
- setting up 2 parallel rows for kids to walk between or side-step between
- alternating two Squigz far apart with one squig in the middle for an out and in jumping pattern
- having kids squat down to pull them off the ground.
- But, the possibilities are really endless.
I hope you found some helpful ideas for activities to do with Squigz! Try some of them out and let me know what you think. Do you have other ideas? Please share them in the comments.
I hope you have a great week!
-Heather
Pediatric Therapy Essentials, LLC participates in the Amazon Associates Program. Should you choose to use these links, this channel may earn affiliate commissions at no additional cost to you. Thanks for your support!