Could Fidget Toys Be the Answer for Your Senior?

If your elderly family member is agitated, nervous, or full of anxious energy, you might be looking for a solution. For a caregiver, often the simple solution is the best one. An easy answer to all of these issues is for your elderly family member to play with a fidget toy. These small and mostly inconspicuous toys can be a huge help to your senior.

 

Elder Care in Westfield IN: Fidget Toys

Elder Care in Westfield IN: Fidget Toys

 

 

What Are Fidget Toys?

Fidget toys, like spinners and flippy toys, are designed to fit easily in the hand. They’re meant to be played with, too. The original designs are flattened devices that you hold in the center and spin. These toys help kids with ADHD and other challenges focus and burn off a little bit of excess energy. They might just help your senior, too.

Fidgeting Helps with Anxiety

If you have ever noticed people who are nervous or anxious about something moving a foot or hand uncontrollably, you’ve seen someone fidgeting. The truth is that fidgeting or moving and manipulating, an item can be a way to distract some parts of the brain, letting others work a little better. That can mean that your senior’s anxiety takes a back seat for a little while.

Fidget Toys Can Be Helpful with Arthritis, Too

People with arthritis or other mobility challenges in their hands and fingers can also benefit from fidget tools. They’re small enough to manipulate properly, but they’re not so small that they’re difficult to operate. Using these toys can help your senior to move her hands and her fingers a little bit more than she’s used to, which can warm up the joints and get the synovial fluid moving.

Some Involve Brain Games

Some fidget toys are a little more complicated than just fidgeting. There are cubes and puzzle games that allow your senior to fidget with something while also solving something on the toy itself. These can be entertaining and challenging, which helps to keep your senior’s brain active and engaged. The simple toys may even be enough to inspire her to want to try more complicated puzzles.

There may be a lot of situations in which your senior would benefit from being able to have something to fiddle with either because of nerves or because it keeps her occupied. Experiment a bit to find the ones that your senior enjoys the most. If you do find a favorite, consider buying a couple of replacements in case that one goes missing.

 

If you or an aging loved-one are considering Home Health Care in Beech Grove, IN, please call the caring staff at Home Services Unlimited. Serving Greater Indianapolis Area. Call for Immediate Info & Assistance: (317) 471-0760

Etelka Froymovich, RN, MHA
Latest posts by Etelka Froymovich, RN, MHA (see all)