Some of the best sensory products for kids meet sensory needs in a variety of ways! We're always on the lookout for exciting, kid-minded, sensory fun like Making Sense to help kids regulate, participate, and interact more successfully.
Making Sense - Sensory Challenging Products
Making Sense is a company based out of Israel and new to the U.S. market with their sensory-informed product designs. They offer three sensory products currently: the Binni Sofa, Mishu weighted wearable, and Little Me weighted stuffed animal for on-the-go input.
All three products are designed to provide proprioceptive input (deep touch pressure to the body's muscles and joints) and we love that they are designed in super-soft, brightly colored fabrics for kid-friendly durability and parent-friendly washability! The Binni Sofa is designed to be a wearable bean bag that can also be used as a sensory-friendly seating option. The Mishu weighted wearable features a kid-cool 'eye' design that looks straight out of your kid's favorite Monsters Inc. movie! It can be worn as a weighted lap pad or as a weighted collar when sitting or laying down. We were excited to try them out with kids of all abilities to see how they naturally gravitated towards these sensory supports to learning and playing!
The Binni Sofa was a favorite sensory seating option for kids who wanted a bit more lateral support during carpet-time instruction. We also found that kids loved using the Binni as a soft place to lay on their bellies in the book corner or when doing a puzzle/game on the floor. OTs and teachers loved that the Binni encouraged prone positioning because being propped up on elbows is a great way to build upper body and core strength and endurance! We even tried it out with mobile infants who are just building upper body strength to crawl and stay upright in different positions!
The construction of the Binni offers a built-up perimeter which acts as an arm and back rest for younger users (1.5-4 year olds) that was welcome when toddlers and preschoolers had difficulty staying seated for longer periods of time without fatiguing. The bean-bag-like interior construction made it possible to wiggle while providing adequate support for weaker core muscles.
Teachers loved that the Binni was washable and the cover easily removable for when kids inevitably are kids... and get dirty! The fabric appealed to even the more tactile-sensitive students with it's soft, lycra-jersey knit material.
The Binni is designed as a wearable bean bag to offer additional deep pressure input for sensory kids. Perhaps due to age or individual sensory profiles, many of the younger kids were tentative to try the Binni on as a wearable so this was not the immediate appeal of it. Younger kids preferred to lay, sit, or snuggle-up with the Binni. We found that the older children (6 years +) were more inclined to explore the wearability of the Binni, including putting legs through the arm holes in a seated position. The wearable Binni was designed to encourage bumping, crashing or rough-housing in a safer way, so consult your child's occupational therapist if you feel that your child may benefit from a wearable solution for sensory input at home. No matter how your child chooses to engage with the Binni Sofa, we found it to be a great sensory solution for home and school.
The Mishu was a big hit with kids of all ages! You can adjust the weight of the Mishu based on your child's weight, preferences, and how they'll likely use it (as a collar or a lap pad). The ability to adjust the weight makes the Mishu customizable, whereas some other weighted lap pads are not able to grow up or down with your child. For kids who like to explore zippers and interior pockets, the hidden zipper heads make it more challenging for young users to get into the weighted contents (which parents and teachers will appreciate!).
The Mishu provides proprioceptive or deep-touch pressure sensory input as a weighted lap pad or as a weighted collar to promote calm and organization. Kids loved the cartoonish "eye" graphic and teachers appreciated that it was weight-adjustable and washable. The two-textured fabrics offered a different tactile experience based on what each child preferred. The versatility of the Mishu as offering weighted sensory input in different ways based on student preference made it a great alternative to some of the typical weighted lap pads currently in classrooms.
If you want more information on the benefits of weighted products and understanding how much to weight your wearable, check out our blog articles here.
We didn't get to try this adorable weighted stuffed animal, but we had to mention it because portable sensory solutions are a must-have in any sensory tool box! We love the adorable, flexibly designed character that has long legs and arms to wrap around little waists or shoulders, or drape comfortably across a lap. Weighted stuffed animals are often a recommendation to ease sensory overload, motion sickness, and transition anxiety -- the cuter, the better!
Check out how kids are using the Binni Sofa & Mishu weighted wearable to support positioning, participation, and focus!
Making Sense was gracious enough to share their products with us in order to write this therapy-informed product review. Our observations and opinions are our own, however, and were not influenced by their sponsorship. If you are interested in sharing a kid-friendly, sensory-informed product with us, send us an email at adaptandlearnllc@gmail.com