Do you have any birthday party or play date ideas for children with visual impairment?

Playing and socialising are important for the development of all children. For children with vision impairment, interacting with their peers allows them to develop vital social and communication skills.

Many games and crafts can be adapted to make them more exciting and fun for children with vision impairment. These could be used for both play dates and parties.

Crafts could include dough modelling, pasta or big bead jewellery making, spaghetti art and tactile collages are some of the options.

Party games could include pin the tail on the donkey (everyone should wear the blindfold, so they have the same experience), tactile bags (guess what’s in the bag by feeling) and pass the parcel (relies on sound and touch, so is a great option).

If you take the party outside, you could consider treasure hunts (if you place a bleeper with the treasure, it can be located by sound) and outdoor art (you could use sand or mud depending on how much mess you want).

As children get older, they may like to do something like going to the cinema or going bowling. If you choose the cinema, check if they offer audio description or have special days where the lighting is low and the sound is softer, as these may be better options depending on your child’s eye condition. Bowling Centres often have built-in adaptations in the form of ramps (that a child can use to help roll the ball) and bumpers (barriers that come up and down to stop the ball from going into the gulley at the side of the lane).

Further information on these activities, along with a range of other ideas and advice on how they can be adapted, can be found on RNIB's Parties and playdates webpage.

The Paths to Literacy website is an excellent resource for activity ideas and information on fun things to make, like tactile birthday books and invitations.

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