Funky Fat chenille pipe cleaners, a.k.a. Brain Noodles, make great fidget toys! Twist them into fun shapes, have a contest for the the most unique creation, ask students to work together to form a giant construction project!
These Brain Noodles come packed in pairs of assorted colors (packed randomly).
Enrich the "sensory diet" of your learners. Our "fiddles" may look like toys to the untrained eye, but they are truly serious learning tools. Kinesthetic learners will focus better and absorb your material more quickly if they have something to do with their hands.
** TIPS **
Try this Pipe Cleaner Challenge for teambuilding or STEM development.
Below is a quick explanation of the exercise. To read more, click here.
The challenge: Tell your “teams of engineers” to build the tallest free-standing structure possible with the 15 pipe cleaners they've been given, in just 10 minutes!
The facilitation: after 2-4 minutes, tell the teams “there have been budget cuts and each team member must place one arm behind their back!” In another couple of minutes, stop them again and explain, “as engineers, you work in a global marketplace where people speak different languages. To symbolize this challenge, you can no longer speak.”
The debrief: ask questions such as: if they all had similar ideas at first; how they came to agreement; how they developed a process for building; how they could do a better job; what roles did they each play; was it helpful or detrimental to have (or not have) a leader; etc.
