I posted earlier about some of the sensory activities I included at Zoey’s 2nd birthday. I wanted to create a summary post that links to all of the previous posts for your convenience. If you want to jump straight to a specific sensory bin you can find them grouped here:

• Cleaning Deck Toys
• Sink or Float Water Play Sensory Bin
• Dinosaur Footprints Sensory Bin
• All Terrain Vehicle Zoom Sensory Bin
• Quick and Simple Sensory Stations You May Already Have

I had a vague idea of what I wanted to do outside on the deck at Zoey’s second birthday party, but decided to wait until after we visited the local Dollar Tree to cement my plans. Right now the girls are completely into Doc McStuffins which led to Zoey and now Ada loving robots. In the show there’s a robot toy that often says “Robot Ray to save the day” so Zoey started saying she’s robot Ray and quotes the show. I was hoping to encorporate robots into her party, but wasn’t able to find any when I was looking around. I did, however, find a robot shirt at WalMart so the girls ended up wearing matching robot shirts at the birthday party.

At the Dollar Tree instead of robots we found dinosaurs and vehicles… both of which are also favorites. This led us to creating the two main sensory bins. We paired the vehicles with bagged rocks to make the all terrain vehicle sensory bin. Lately Zoey keeps asking to play with playdough so I paired the dinosaurs with playdough to make a dinosaur stomping footprints sensory bin. While shopping the kids wanted to buy three-pack diving toys for swimming pools. I decided to pair the two sets we ended up getting with some baby floating bath toys to create a sink or float water sensory bin. Ada then snuck two shark toys into the basket so those were added along with some toy boats we already had on hand. After the three main sensory bins were figured out I added some other minor supporting sensory stations on the deck and the outside part of the birthday party was planned.

As there was no chance of rain I did the preliminary set up for the sensory bins two days before the birthday party. I had the kids help clean the deck toys so I could go through them and decide what to pack out of the way and what should be included in the planned sensory bins. The night before the party I moved all the new items outside, planned the layout of the bins, used sidewalk chalk to mark out the title of each zone, and laid out all the sensory bins.

The day before the birthday party the girls and I went back to the Dollar Tree to buy helium balloons. After they went to bed and we were done going down the hallway I grouped all the balloons in the hallway so the kids would have to walk through them on the way to breakfast in the morning. A perfect way to start Zoey’s birthday and her party day.

While shopping I found some birthday fridge magnets so I saved them for Zoey the morning of her birthday for a fun activity to distract her while she waited for her party to start. I kept the outer layer on so the kids were able to use the magnets as a simple puzzle. If you don’t have room on the fridge you could also do this with window stickers; though I’ve found the magnets last longer than the window stickers with my kids.

The morning of the birthday party I stole some of the balloons and tied them to the deck railing. I first tied two balloons together then tied them to the railing with a big loop so I can easily get scissors in there to cut after the party.

After doing the setup on the deck all that was left to do was wait for the party to start.

And the kids had a blast thanks to everyone that was able to come to the party.

And the sensory bin toys we bought keep getting used again and again.

And they’re great new toys to bring to the playground. The dinosaurs from the Dollar Tree were perfect to pull out when we were in Drumheller at a dinosaur-themed spray park too.

I hope these links help you whether you’re planning a fun activity for you kids, a larger playdate, or party. Let me know how it goes in the comments below, on my Facebook page, or through Instagram. Have a great day.