The Benefits of Sensory Blankets

Most kids have some sort of lovey, blanket, or soft toy that they insist on carrying around and/or sleeping with. This happens when a child finds an object that they connect with and that brings them comfort.

Baby Jack Learning Loveys provide an added benefit to your typical lovey- it increases sensory exploration and learning, which can benefit a child’s cognitive, language, and social-emotional development. 

Sensory tag blankets also offer children an additional tactile component in their tags or ribbons. Babies and toddlers love rubbing the tags, and which can help them feel safe as it can decrease their anxiety and increase comfort which in turn can help them self soothe and fall asleep with ease. Baby Jack is the only brand that sews these ribbons shut to ensure little fingers do not get stuck. Personally, I can always tell when my three year old is getting sleepy as he will start rubbing the ribbons of his “B” (tag blanket) between his fingers and against his cheeks.

I also love that The Learning Loveys can grow with a child. It can provide comfort with the sensory component in infants and toddlers, but can also be used to learn language and preacademic skills. They have vivid and contrasting colors which can benefit early visual discrimination and later color vocabulary. Many of the blankets have items that make sounds, which are prerequisites for learning words. A cow says MOO, dinosaurs ROAR, fire trucks BEEP, and airplanes ZOOM. As kids begin talking, you can talk about the items you see, or have them find the item you name. “The rocket ship is flying in outer space!”, “What does a whale do?”, or “How many mermaids can you find?” Many of the designs are made from basic shapes which provides additional pre academic vocabulary learning! This allows kids to learn and explore independently and with others.

The benefits are vast and I love that so much can be packed into one little blanket that can last throughout early childhood, and for some even longer!

Andi Putt is a mommy and pediatric Speech Language Pathologist who specializes in language development and autism spectrum disorders. Andi is passionate about teaching parents how to support speech and language development at home, and does this on her blog at www.mrsspeechiep.com. Follow her on Facebook and Instagram for quick tips to improve your child’s communication skills.