Birthday Party Sensory Box

My son turned THREE a few days ago!! I still can hardly believe it.... :-) I had a small party for him and invited the kids he plays with. Most of the kids were able to come, and Josiah had a blast with his friends! But I was left with trying to figure out what activity I should do. The kids are all so young ranging in age from 16 months to 3.5 years old with the majority being 2 years old. At first I though of decorating cupcakes but scratched it when I found a cake donut mix at the store. And then it hit me.... A birthday sensory box!!! And the kids LOVED it! I was hoping they would since it is one of Josiah's favorite things to do. :-)

I went to the Dollar Tree and picked up a bag of bows, candles, and a birthday tablecloth. I really wanted something with cupcakes and was thrilled to find some cupcake candles at the grocery store. Then I just used my sparkly pom poms and cut up two silver pipe cleaners and mixed them all up in the rice. With some help from Josiah, of course. I laid out some bowls, scoops, tongs, and an ice cube tray to encourage play and voila! A birthday sensory box! 

Josiah dug in right away! I was hoping to keep him from playing in it, but he was so excited. :-) Good thing I didn't put it together until 20 minutes beforehand. :-D

I thought it was hysterical that he immediately started separating out the pom poms using the tongs. He's like I've got this. I know what to do.

Doesn't it look like he's making a rice cupcake? 

Filling up the bowls.

Really, Mom? More pictures? :-D

Yay! Some kids are here, and they immediately ran to the rice box. Look at my son's happy face. :-) 

My sweet birthday boy.

I forgot to take pictures when all the kids were playing in the box. Argh. We did eventually move it outside so they could make as much mess as they wanted. :-D Honestly, I couldn't believe how big of a hit it was! If he has a party next year, I want to do another one. 

If you're planning a party for little kids, please think of making a sensory box. It could match the theme of the party, too. Dinosaurs, airplanes, cars, princesses, ponies, you get the idea. Trust me, it will be a huge hit!