About Us

We are a family owned and operated business. We have 4 children, of which 3 are on the Autism spectrum, one of whom also has a severe speech impairment and requires a lot of support. And another who experienced trauma at a young age that has caused severe anxiety and panic attacks. 

It was in 2012 that one of our kids was initially diagnosed as ‘non verbal autistic’ and even though we had very little knowledge of Autism prior to that, we embraced being a special needs family and work hard every day to ensure all of our children are equipped for the day ahead.

Early in 2016 our occupational therapist, along with the school suggested we buy some fidget toys for one of our children to assist with his growing frustrations at school. We purchased a pack of items online and some worked for him and some didn’t, and some of these we stock in our store today. Our trans son who experienced the trauma also finds that fidget toys assist him greatly when he is feeling overwhelmed or anxious.

We also had an incident in 2015 caused from another one of the children who was constantly putting things in his mouth - without even realising he was doing it, and at the time i was unaware that chewy toys even existed. So, on this particular day, he inhaled a little plastic toy. He was still able to breath thankfully, but definitely required a trip to the hospital! And we were then taken by ambulance to the Royal Children’s in Melbourne to have it removed under general anaesthetic. Prior to leaving, one of the nurses explained about and introduced us to chewy toys, and from the moment his 'dog tag' chewy necklace arrived he had it with him constantly and after a bit of an adjustment, it worked amazingly for him.  

Initially with opening the shop, the decision came about as we wanted to support the families of Bendigo to have a place they could visit and be able to see and touch the items. As our son had wanted to do that but at the time there was nowhere like it in Bendigo and for me the frustration of having to purchase so many items when he has never used some of them is how the idea of Fidget Kids was born. Somewhere that you can purchase the items that will work for you and your children. And we wanted to do so in a place where customers could feel comfortable and safe - as with many special needs families, we have been on the receiving end of the judgemental part of society.

Unfortunately due to COVID-19 we had to change to online sales only and are not in a position at this stage to reopen a physical store, but rest assured our products are of fantastic quality, at great prices and we are confident you will find what you need from within our collection. And whilst we dont have the capacity for customers to see and touch items anymore, I am more than happy to assist with any questions you may have. And since moving to online sales, we have been selling more & more Australia wide, and recently overseas sales have picked up as well, which is such a great feeling knowing that we are helping so many special needs families around the country and the world.

We have a fantastic range of fidget toys, sensory toys, chewy/oral toys and much more. We are also adding to our range of products, but if there is an item you are looking for that we don’t currently have, please reach out and let us know and we will do our best to source the item for you.

My name is Leanne and my greatest desire with Fidget Kids is the hope that we can do our best to help our fellow special needs families.