As anyone who has searched the internet for "fidget mat" or "dementia fidget" has seen, a lot of people know someone who would profit from having one of these things.
The trend of fidget devices visible online seems to be going for more and more complexity--almost more of a manual dexterity exercise device. (These are fabric ones, mostly, but you can see images of "hard goods" made of wood and having mechanical things on the surface. Those probably are more for manual dexterity than simple fidgeting IMHO.) The many things being put onto the face of the fabric fidget often seems to obscure the ground fabric altogether.
I was talking to someone about fidgets a little while back and we agreed that some of the really popular additions (zippers) don't seem to be as desired by actual Alzheimers patients or other dementia patients we have known. As she said, "Mom just wanted to rub her fingers over the surface." I suspect that while some people really like opening and closing a zipper, many are more interested in rubbing their fingers over the texture of the ground fabric.
Also having a very large and busy fidget means taking a lot more time with choosing objects and attachments. If one wishes to make a bunch of fidgets, and doesn't actually know the peoples' interests and hobbies at the time of making, it becomes more difficult.
Thus a new, simpler model that can be made fairly quickly and has lots of finger-rubbing space:
The back. I was playing with scraps in the sewing room here. It's more of a colorful bonus than the star of the show.
The fur in the front was quilted to the patched back before the ring was sewn down on its ribbon.
It goes together easily, and it's small enough that a visitor can pick it up and bring it over to their friend without having to fold it for transport.
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