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! 

Colored Rice Sensory Play

A couple of months ago I finally colored some rice! I was so excited. haha So when Josiah was asleep for the night I set it all up in his water table. I decided to add in colored pom poms and hide little trains under everything. Then I added letters and numbers around the sides. It turned out nicer than I thought it would! So cheerful and bright :-)

He was so excited to wake up to this! He played with it all morning, and we went over every letter of the alphabet - the sounds they make and a word from each letter. Phonics is great for speech practice. Any different ways to practice words and sounds is always good for my little guy! He tried to say every letter. That made my day!

During play, I was able to go over colors and numbers, too. I know he is soaking it all up. :-)

Digging out the trains.

Getting his trains all set up.

I layed a few eggs around, too. Just for fun. ;-)

I put an M&M in each one. :-D

More trains!

Looking for more hidden things.

My cutie. :-)

Found a good track for the trains!

My son absolutely loved this sensory activity. When he saw the pics on here he said, "Again? Again?" haha 

Guess what we are doing after his nap today.... ;-)

Bug Small World

I decided to do a bug small world because Josiah loves them. He is a boy after all. haha So on our walk to get the mail (we always take the long scenic route back) we picked up some colorful leaves and a few twigs. Once home we picked some grass and shoveled up a little bit of dirt and voila! A world for our little bugs.  

He was so excited and dove right in.

Kaylee looks like a queen in the background. :-D

Uh-oh it's the scorpion! I love how real the bugs look! 

He had a blast and I just kept it in the house for him to play in for a couple days. He didn't want me to throw it away. :-D But it's easy enough to make another one. :-)

I've been looking for small farm animals to do a farm small world. But all I can find is cowboys and Indians... Sounds fun, doesn't it?!

I hope these small worlds inspires you to make one for your little ones!