March 28, 2024

Kiwanis Club makes sensory blankets for ‘fidgety’ kids

‘It takes the wiggles out of me’

A Newton organization that normally works to benefit the community financially is taking a more snuggly turn to help children with “fidgety” tendencies.

Newton Noon Kiwanis dedicated their meeting Wednesday afternoon to making sensory blankets to donate to the Newton School Community District. The meeting, which took place at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, 223 E. Fourth St. N., saw more than 20 of its members putting the finishing touches on the sensory blankets before they were donated.

Bob Lane, a member of Newton Noon Kiwanis, said he first came up with the idea for the blankets after reading an article in the Des Moines Register last year. In the article, a special education teacher in Cedar Falls said the blankets found results with her students.

“Educators seem to have discovered that some kids who are fidgety can’t seem to settle down, so it helps to put the blankets over one of their laps or over their shoulder,” Lane said. “I heard one little kid say, ‘It takes the wiggles out of me.’

“I took the idea to the board and they agreed,” Lane added. “If you buy them, they’re like $40 a piece, but we could make them for $5 each.”

Each blanket is made with nine sandwich bags containing 1.5 cups of dry rice. The bags are duct-taped in a three-by-three format to brown wrapping paper before being put into pillowcases, thus completing the sensory blankets.

Jason Lauterbach, president of Newton Noon Kiwanis, said he was impressed with how much they were able to make while spending so little. The Salvation Army donated the rice, and the rest was bought with about $35.

“For simplicity and costs, this is one of the better ones because it doesn’t cost hardly anything,” Lauterbach said. “We’ve done different projects, but we’ve never exactly done this project. We’ve done a variety of projects from cleaning up daycares to reading programs.

“It’s been a good, hands-on thing to do instead of sitting around and talking (at the meeting),” Lauterbach added. “It’s hard to get families involved during work hours, so it’s nice that we can do this during the club time. It’s a need that is being fulfilled.”

Before the meeting started, four of the sensory blankets were finished. The group members only had to make three more before the club could donate them to Tina Ross, Newton School District’s director of special services.

Lakin Jenkins, a 17-year-old senior at Newton High School and the high school representative of the club, said she might be seeing and working with these sensory blankets when she gets involved with special education in the near future.

“I absolutely love this project, especially the special education aspect,” Jenkins said. “Next semester, I’m helping with them for (physical education), so I’ll be involved with them and I have a lot of friends there, and they’re really sweet.

“We already have donated one (blanket), and I’m sure it helps them quite a bit,” Jenkins added. “I’m sure they will be used at all times somehow.”

Contact Orrin Shawl at 641-792-3121 ext. 6533 or oshawl@newtondailynews.com