Pokemon Party @ Pip Yoga

When mom reached out for sensory stations at her son’s Pokemon themed 5th Birthday Party I was so excited! I quickly began to relive my childhood of collecting pokemon cards and got busy right away planning this special day.

The first thing that popped into my head were wagon wheel shaped pastas. They are almost identical to a Pokeball. After hunting a few stores I finally found some larger wagon wheels at my local grocery store. Once home I gave them all a coat of white paint (tossed them in a ziplock and shook with white acrylic paint until covered. I then painted 1/2 the wheel red and went back in with black for the middle. Yes, it was all by hand, each individual piece. It was time consuming but I was so happy with the final product!

To compliment these shapes I used painted chickpeas to represent some of the pokemon characters. Chickpeas were painted quickly by tossing them in a ziplock with some paint, then layed flat to dry.

This bin had activities set up with tweezer for color sorting, color matching, and had pipe cleaners to lace pokeballs.

The next station I created for this Pokemon themed party was a Pikachu Rice table! I had so much fun with this one! I used 4 colors of dyed rice, yellow, black, white and blue. If you’ve never painted rice for play before, you need to! It’s so simple and so fun! Everyone, including today’s birthday boy, asks if it’s sprinkles because the colors are so vibrant. To paint rice, fill a ziplock bag 1/2 way with rice, squirt some paint in, close the bag and shake your heart out!

Once at the studio I assembled our Pikachu right on the table and used the left over colors as the background. Pikachu wasn’t perfect but he was recognizable! The table was affixed with scoops, and my homemade tube structure which makes pouring rice more fun! I also used the clear parts of our Tot Tubes to fill. Rice tables are always the messiest but they’re also the easiest to clean up.

The 3rd station we chose was small world play! Kids could role play scenes from Pokemon or tell their own stories in some of the Pokemon worlds. Using a blue scarf for water, moss for grass/forest and wood slices I created a simple story telling back drop. I added peg people to represent trainers, pokeballs and various pokemon on the scene for kids to play.

The last sensory experience I was able to create was a Playdough Station! Using homemade playdough, and lots of embellishments kids were directed to create their favorite pokemon or come up with their own! I had rolling pins available (am now just realizing I forgot to add the cookie cutter shapes 🫠) pom poms, mini popsicle sticks, googley eyes, gems, pipe cleaners and more!

When I left, the playdough station looked like this…

And when I returned to clean up, it looked like…

The children blew me away with what they would create! There was feathered pokemon, lots of eyed pokemon, big, small, mixed colors, textured pokemon!

I was fortunate enough to allow my creativity to continue to flourish by designing and making the party favors for this event. Mom chose dry sensory kits and I came across the perfect container for the job! I found these red and clear, fillable balls, which resembled pokeballs perfectly! I started filling them with some of the sensory stations I already created; rice, chickpeas, wagon wheels and a small container of playdough. I also added a mini scooper, stickers, pom poms, buttons and pipe cleaners. To add to the pokeball theme I found smaller pokeballs with a surprise pokemon inside on ebay!

The containers were snapped closed and finished off with a black ribbon and thank you sticker!

The best compliment was when the birthday boy walked in, looked around, and in the sweetest, five year old voice said, “this is awesome!!” He then continued inspecting each station, asking questions, and giving me lessons on the pokemon, who his favorite was, etc. I’m happy I was able to see his reaction in real time!

Now let’s talk venue! I had the pleasure of meeting Abby, owner of Pip Yoga in West Hartford, CT. Pip Yoga is a Kid’s Yoga studio which is located in an old warehouse on the upper level. Immediately upon entering the sense of calm washes over you. Any set up jitters, and lingering stress of setting up quickly disappeared as everyone around me seamlessly set up for the party.

The play area/yoga area was lined with large windows which allows the natural light to pour in.

In addition to the sensory stations, Abby had set up a soft play area and bounce house for the party goers. The spacious room allowed for lots of guests and ample activities.

Pip Yoga holds classes for littles throughout the week and parties on the weekends! Be sure to check them out!

As always, be sure to follow along on instagram for more fun! @MrsGomesOnTheGo

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