Exploring toys that move - spinners

One of the students brought in a fidget spinner this morning and it sparked a lot of interest. I am sure you are all aware of them.as they are EVERYWHERE at the moment! We stopped reading our story and our student was very kind giving each of his friends a turn while we were waiting for the start of school music. 
 

To build on the interest in the spinning toy, some more materials were brought out that allowed the children to further explore spinning and how different wheels and toys turn. We had some cogs and gears and some spinning tips. 

 

 

The children were very curious and delighted throughout the exploration and continued it in play time later in the morning. We wondered about what made the fidget spinner keep in spinning whilst the other toys only turned for a little while. We noticed that the cogs made the gears turn, whilst out fingers made the spinning tops turn and the fidget spinners had some other mechanism to make them turn. 

 

 

Hopefully by now you may have come across some helpful information about the value and/or cautions regarding fidget spinners. If not, here's a helpful article:

https://yourot.com/parenting-club/2017/5/1/the-dangers-of-the-fidget-epidemic?utm_campaign=shareaholic&utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=socialnetwork

However, what a fantastic way for children to explore moving parts and make observations and discoveries about how things move. I also noticed that the children hold the fidget spinner with their 'snappy crocodile" fingers, so there's another plus!