We love community “freecycle” and recycle groups because they can keep the things we no longer need from heading to the landfill. These groups are also a source of hope – especially when community members come together to help someone in need.

Our local group includes a teacher who works with elementary-age students in a low-income community. This teacher is the kind who goes above and beyond, thinking of students’ needs both in the classroom and beyond. They’ve scoured for things like boots, clothing, school supplies, and other items to help the students – and then there was this:

Since the fidgets were intended for elementary-age students, we knew we had to be thoughtful. We ruled out the infinity cubes since they can make some sounds and may be distracting in the classroom. And, while a lot of kids like spinners, there have been articles on how the spinning motions can also become classroom distractions. It came down to @squinn‘s Infinity Flip – sturdy, quiet and our own family favorite.

We usually print for speed since our fidgets are distributed to adults, but knew we needed to make some changes for classroom use. We scaled the fidgets larger and used a sturdier PLA+ filament. After a few days of running the P1P, we had a nice collection packed up for this amazing teacher.

We’re excited that the fidgets will be making their way into students’ hands after Thanksgiving break and thankful to the teacher for showing their students that there’s nothing wrong with fidgeting. Even though these kids have been through so much, they’ll already be ahead of their peers with this exposure to inclusion. Talk about your A+ in life!