Sensory Activity Board Ball with 16 Rubber Ropes, Sensory Fidget Toys for Kids with Autism, ADHD, Sensory Toys That Effectively Relieve Anxiety, Improve Concentration and Cognitive Development

I decided to get this sensory activity ball out of other similar options for 2 main reasons:1. It's 3 dimensional activity (instead of just one a square board)2. You can store the noodle strings insideGreat concepts. This toy has also helped my daughter ask questions like "How is it staying on the ball? What's causing the strings to stay on?"She is not on the spectrum, but enjoys making and building things. I think many kids will like playing with this.The strings are shorter than I expected. They're probably short (7 inches) to make sure they don't cause any harm, but it would be nice if they can go around the ball.Ideas for improvements:1. More strings! There are not definitely not enough strings to even cover half the ball. That's really disappointing.2. Have varying size strings to make it more fun and challenging.3. There should be equal numbers of the same color and/or length.4. Although they probably purposely decreased the size of the box (it was stored as 2 halves stacked in each other) to decrease space utilization and decrease costs, our kid really wanted to put her design away right back into the box (which, unfortunately, wouldn't fit in).5. This might simply be because it's silicone material, but this is such a hair magnet! Something to keep in mind if you have lots of hair / pets.I'd say 3.5 stars because I really wish it has more strings. Having longer strings (and variations of length) and equal numbers of colored strings would be nice. There should be more than enough to cover the whole ball (and a few extra strings) since kids might lose some (since they also like to play with the strings in other ways).Different ways to play:1. I put some on however I like. Child then takes her turn to put on however many she likes. We take turns.2. We take turns one at a time.3. We take turns one at a time but the end of the new string has to meet with the end of a string that is already on the ball (makes it more challenging).4. Take turns but with color coordination in mind.5. Create pictures or patterns.6. Challenge design replications (take pics of your design, remove strings, ask child to recreate).7. "Braid" the strings (daughter came up with this).8. Play hot potato with it (she laughed when a string unhinged).9. Play pretend with the strings (practice using chopsticks to pick up "noodles). Practice counting, lay flat to write/draw with them, play catch, pretend worms, create patterns, use for teaching math problems, etc). Many great ways!10. Use as a bowling ball to learn to aim and knock things down! HahaThe attached pictures show how much extra space there is for more strings. We used all the provided strings and yet it's barely covered. The picture on their listing is a bit deceiving because they made it look like you can cover all the surface area.

This is a great fidget to help when you need something to really focus on and distract yourself. It does a great job of keeping your hands busy and your mind focused. I don’t recommend it if you have weak hands, though, because opening it requires you to pull the sides apart as you twist and might be difficult if your hands are weak.

This is really neat, and can be used over and over again. It's a nice big size and screws open and closed on big treads that don't cross thread terribly. The tube parts are rubberized and floppy, which is lots of sensory fun all on its own, and when not in use you can put them inside the ball for storage. There are lots of different ways to thread them on the ball and they can be peeled off and re-used over and over again without any damage. Nothing here is sticky either, making this a great independent fun item!

This sensory activity ball is a good idea that needs a little work.Some pros:• Intriguing idea to have a 3-dimensional sensory ball as opposed to a flat surface.• Each half of the ball forms a stable workplace to build differing patterns.• Ok colors—although it would be nice to have a greater variety of colors and lengths for better coverage.• The strings fit inside the ball for storage (although the assembled ball will not fit in the box.)• For a child who does not care about being able to make many symmetrical or recognizable patterns, it would be fun to just randomly push the different colored strings into the grooves.• It could be used to teach colors and to play games. The ball will roll if the designs are flat.• Portable. Can be used without a flat surface. Might keep a child (or an adult) entertained on outings.• Totally washable and easy to clean.A few cons:• The ball is made of hard plastic, as opposed to silicone. The smooth surface makes it difficult and sometimes impossible to push the strings into place securely enough to keep them from popping out of place as you are trying to build shapes. Made me wonder if some of the shapes on the box had been glued in place! Then, once your shape is finally in the grooves (at least those with nothing sticking up to grab), it is difficult to get the strings back out of the grooves without using fingernails or a sharp object. For a child, this could be frustrating.• The pictures on the box are somewhat misleading. First, it looks like there are a lot of strings, but if you look closely, two sets are pictured. Actually, there probably should be double the number of strings in one set to use with an assembled ball. Additionally, the dexterity needed to anchor the strings and bend them into intricate shapes would most likely be well beyond the ability of a young child like the one pictured on the box. She certainly didn’t build the designs sitting near her!• The set needs a better variety of colors. My set has two of each color, except for four oranges. Also, the red and violet strings are too close in color to provide a nice contrast.• The configuration of the ball’s surface becomes very limiting after a while.This sensory activity ball is a good idea that needs a little work.Some pros:• Intriguing idea to have a 3-dimensional sensory ball as opposed to a flat surface.• Each half of the ball forms a stable workplace to build differing patterns.• Ok colors—although it would be nice to have a greater variety of colors and lengths for better coverage.• The strings fit inside the ball for storage (although the assembled ball will not fit in the box.)• For a child who does not care about being able to make many symmetrical or recognizable patterns, it would be fun to just randomly push the different colored strings into the grooves.• It could be used to teach colors and to play games. The ball will roll if the designs are flat.• Portable. Can be used without a flat surface. Might keep a child (or an adult) entertained on outings.• Totally washable and easy to clean.A few cons:• The ball is made of hard plastic, as opposed to silicone. The smooth surface makes it difficult and sometimes impossible to push the strings into place securely enough to keep them from popping out of place as you are trying to build shapes. Made me wonder if some of the shapes on the box had been glued in place! Then, once your shape is finally in the grooves (at least those with nothing sticking up to grab), it is difficult to get the strings back out of the grooves without using fingernails or a sharp object. For a child, this could be frustrating.• The pictures on the box are somewhat misleading. First, it looks like there are a lot of strings, but if you look closely, two sets are pictured. Actually, there probably should be double the number of strings in one set to use with an assembled ball. Additionally, the dexterity needed to anchor the strings and bend them into intricate shapes would most likely be well beyond the ability of a young child like the one pictured on the box. She certainly didn’t build the designs sitting near her!• The set needs a better variety of colors. My set has two of each color, except for four oranges. Also, the red and violet strings are too close in color to provide a nice contrast.• The configuration of the ball’s surface becomes very limiting after a while.Still, it is fun to play with and a nice alternative to screen time.

The kids absolutely love this ball! They’ve had so much fun getting creative and developing different designs using the stretchy rubber ropes. The colors are bright and fun, and it’s been such a great hands-on activity. One small challenge was removing the ropes—they were so excited to build that they didn’t expect how tricky it would be to take the ropes out when they wanted to switch up their designs. It would be amazing if a little tool were included to help with that part. I really appreciate how stretchy the ropes are; they are forgiving to rough handling. We accidentally dropped it a couple of times and were relieved that it didn’t break. That said, we’ll try to be extra careful moving forward. Overall, this super fun and engaging fidget sparked creativity, and we are big fans!

Granson loves this he puts the strings in different patterns. Keeps hands busy.. Great for all ages too.