Fidgeting

I needed to buy a screwdriver the other day and so it was off to Canadian Tire.  Before I could even think of navigating to the tools section and then find the one from the millions on the shelf, I saw a display.  I’m such an impulse buyer.

It is the current distraction – there were fidget spinners on sale for $8.88.  I looked; I was tempted; but I moved on.  After all, I think that I have a Rubic’s Cube somewhere located in the games closet.

As it turns out, you don’t actually have to have the physical device and risk injuring yourself.  You can play with one on your device.

Google Fidger Spinner

Look no further than out friend Google, the search engine and home of interesting Easter Eggs.  Just head to the Google homepage and search for “spinner” and you’re off.

Repeated clicks on “SPIN” will speed things up for you!

There’s a toggle that lets you switch between the Fidget spinner and a wheel of fortune type wheel which can do things like simulating the roll of a die.  A pull down menu lets you determine the numbers of digits that appear on your wheel.

But, we’re here for the fidgeting!

Scratch Fidget Spinner

So, that’s OK if all you want to do is to take things for a spin.  How about creating one using your coding skills?  Then, check out this one, written in the Scratch scripting language.

Green Flag to go!

Your arrow keys will allow you to adjust speed and direction.  But, the real power here is in the Remix.  Log into your Scratch account, remix the application, and then your and/or your students are off!  Now it gets exciting.

It comes as no surprise that there are all kinds of variations of the spinner available on the Scratch website.  Knock yourself out here.

There’s an app for that…

Don’t write off your portable device.  There are lots of options there as well

• Android
• Apple

Oh, and you don’t have to worry about this.