I’ve known for a while now that my baby will be turning one sooner than I’m ready for, but it really hit me this past week just how soon it will be! I have one week until my daughter’s birthday party, and I’ve just spent my morning thinking of easy activities that I can have set up and ready to go for her party with her playgroup friends.
For babies and toddlers, the simpler the activity, the better. I used to be a preschool teacher before my baby was born, so I have lots of fun and educational activities up my sleeve. Here’s the three activities I’ve decided on!
Ball pit and tunnels
Why yes, I am actually the coolest and most fun mom ever! I just purchased a baby ball pit, tent, and tunnel set along with a pack of 400 plastic ball pit balls. I’m envisioning mass chaos as we will be hosting about 10 kids between the ages of 8 months and 3 years old. A ball pit seems like pretty much the most fun thing I can imagine for a group of babies and toddlers. You can find the one I ordered HERE!
And the balls to go with it are HERE!
Group art
One of my go-to activities for any early childhood age group is dot markers. Have you ever handed your toddler a regular marker, only for them to slam it down onto the paper and ruin the tip? You need dot markers; they are magic!
They’re suitable for younger babies because they require very little coordination to mark the paper, but older kids can also use them more intentionally. For my daughter’s birthday party, I’m planning on covering the table with easel paper and leaving out the dot markers. I’m going to write “Happy Birthday” on the easel paper. Since my baby’s birthday is a couple of days after her friend party, I’ll hang up the dot marker art as one of her birthday banners!
Peel and stick wall
Another tried and true activity for toddlers is a peel and stick wall. All you need is contact paper and anything fun to stick to it! Use painter’s tape to attach the contact paper to the wall with the sticky side of the contact paper facing out.
Make sure the contact paper is low on the wall, where young children will be able to reach it. Set out baskets containing fun materials such as feathers, pompoms, or shapes cut out of construction paper. Let the kiddos go wild!
Side note: the links I’ve included here will take you to products on Amazon for the convenience, but I purchase almost all of my craft items (like the contact paper and easel paper rolls) from Michael’s. Their children’s craft brand is incredibly affordable and high quality!
During the party, I’ll have the ball pit set up in the living room, the dot markers at my children’s activity table, and the peel and stick wall in my entryway hallway. That way, kids can hop to whatever activity they want to try out for the duration of the party. I hope these ideas will help other parents to throw the most fun one year old birthday parties!