We are always on the lookout for new things to keep our little one entertained. He’s mostly non-verbal, so it’s really hard to figure it out what he wants since he can’t tell us. Our best way to determine what he likes is to watch him. If he plays with it a lot or hums (he hums when he is happy) then we know it’s a winner.
His teacher as school often let’s him bring home things which he likes in school, and that helps give us some ideas as well.
We also like to see what he works with when he meets with his occupational therapist. One day he came out with a “popper” in his hands and was humming and spinning with it. Definitely a winner.
Poppers are a great toy for keeping our son’s hands busy. He also likes the popping noise it makes. It does bear noting that one side of the popper typically pops louder than the other side, but that doesn’t seem to bother him. He loves playing with it in the car and while out visiting friends and family. It is big enough that he can hold it with one or two hands or play with it on his lap, but not so big that you can’t tuck it into a bag or purse.
It seems like sensory toys start out designed for the special needs community and then everyone else jumps on the band wagon driving prices up. It was the case with fidgit spinners and it looks like it will be the same way for poppers.
We have found the best place to purchase poppers is on Amazon. There are many different styles, colors, shapes available. Also you can purchase one or many, however the basic shapes in larger groups typically have been the cheapest overall per popper.
The one we purchased was a four pack in different colors. We chose the shape of the one he used with the occupational therapist because we knew he liked it, but there are many other shapes available, including hearts, circles and squares.
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