This weekend we were able to test the confetti ball, and we received an anti gravity led balloon as an extra. That was a nice surprise! Because we worked with a sturdy product (the confetti ball) and a more fragile product (the anti gravity led balloon) this weekend, this was a nice subject to focus on during the testing. We tested with two children of five and six years old with autism, who love to feel and discover.

The confetti ball

We chose the confetti ball because it is made of sturdy material. Children love to feel and discover, and like to exert a firm grip and pressure. Not all play materials are designed for this, but the confetti ball certainly is! The sturdy rubber ensures that it can withstand a good knock. Children can squeeze it or lean on it without any effort. This ensures that there are many play options.

We tested this:

-Roll the ball over. You hear a soft rain sound because of the hard confetti in it
-Shooting the ball
-Bouncing the ball
-Lie on your stomach on the ball and gently roll back and forth
-Place a body part (an arm, leg, feet) on the ball and roll back and forth
-Sit on your bottom on the ball and bounce up and down (we are going to buy a skippy ball, they liked that!)
-Lie on the floor and let the ball roll over you. For children who like a deeper pressure it is nice that you can press harder on this ball
-Hold the ball and look at it very closely: with your nose against the ball you can see the confetti clearly
-Hold the ball and spin it so you can see and hear the confetti falling
-Feeling the ball with your hands: there is a rough pattern on it, so there is a lot to discover

Recommendation

What makes us so enthusiastic about this product is that it is not expensive, can last a very long time and is diverse. There are many play possibilities and it can be used for both an active activity and for a moment of rest where you focus on the different senses. This makes it suitable for use during play with different children and target groups. This makes it suitable for devising an activity, but also for letting the children play independently.

The anti gravity led balloon

That is immediately very interesting, a balloon with a flashing light in it! The children are soon staring with open mouths. We have been asked to test the vulnerability of this balloon, among other things. When we blow it up, we indeed quickly notice that it is a 'real balloon', and we are curious how long it will last with our target group.

Playing with the balloon with the help of the supervisor

We start by holding the balloon ourselves as guidance. There is an elastic band that you can put your hand through. When you shake the balloon, the light on the inside will flash for a few seconds and the colours will appear throughout the balloon. One child is dancing around the balloon with excitement, the other is sitting quietly and watching in fascination. We repeat the same game in the hallway where it is completely dark. For one of the children this is a party, it seems as if we have turned on the disco lights. For the other child it seems like too many stimuli. They look at the balloon for a moment, but then it quickly leaves the hallway for the bright living room.

Playing with the balloon yourself

The children quickly become restless, they want to hold the balloon themselves. They quickly understand that when the flashing light stops, they have to shake the balloon again. This requires quite a bit of force and neither of them can do it. One of the children loves to sit on the couch with the balloon and look very closely. He presses his face firmly against the balloon and looks at the lights. We can see from his hands that he is exerting firm pressure, and when he starts squeezing we watch with a little tension to see if the balloon will hold. He seems to enjoy both the physical stimulus of the lights and the feeling of the balloon against his face.
The other child prefers to run around with the balloon while he presses it firmly against him. The balloon holds up when we regularly tell him to handle the balloon gently. Soon the discovery with the hands is replaced by the mouth. We are just too late to prevent a bite and then… unfortunately the balloon deflates.

When the balloon bursts

Fortunately, we find a solution; we have loose punch balloons with elastic (bought at the action) with us in which we can put the flashing light. This balloon looks very similar to the original balloon and has the same effect, the game can continue. Unfortunately, the same thing happens again not much later. This time it doesn't seem like an accident, the curiosity to remove the light turns out to be too great. It is therefore a fragile product that really requires the help of the supervisors with some target groups. Despite this, the children really enjoyed the balloon, and thanks to the handy solution of the replacement balloon we can continue playing for many weekends!