If you’re a Pinterest follower (especially of children related pinners) you’ve probably seen this idea popping up every now and again. I knew the moment I saw it that this was a project I wanted to do with my daughter!
Materials: Rice (2 cups for each color), measuring cup, spoon, baking sheets covered with plastic wrap, food coloring (liquid or paste), a big jar with lid, zip lock type bags, rubbing alcohol, a deep and wide tub (will be your sensory bin), table cloth to protect your work surface from the colored dyes, old rag to clean up any spills.
Cost: Between $5.00 to $7.00 for rice and food coloring.
To turn this day into a color learning party you can sing along to The Wiggles Video on YouTube “Rainbow of Colors”. Borrow a few books from the library, some suggestions: “I spy with my little eye” by author Edward Gibbs or the much loved “Brown bear, brown bear, what do you see?” by author Bill Martin. Or dress up in colorful clothing (blue pants, orange shirt, one green & one yellow sock!) 
Activity Steps:
- Measure out 2 cups of rice using the spoon and measuring cup. My daughter, like most other children, loves to fill up various receptacles using a spoon, she was very happy to do this job!
- Pour the measured rice in the jar (she also loved pouring!)
- Add 5 – 10 drops of food coloring to the rice
- Add approx. 1 – 2 tbsp of rubbing alcohol (CLOSE THE LID AFTER EVERY USE – Safety First!)
- Close the lid tightly and let your child shake, shake, shake! (guess what? My daughter loved this too!)
- When the rice is uniformly colored pour it out onto the plastic lined baking sheet, spread it out a bit
- Repeat the steps and make as many colors as you want!
- You can find a color combining chart here. We love the purple we made with blue & red!
- Once you’ve colored all your rice, set it out in a well ventilated area to dry for a few hours – this will also remove the smell from the alcohol (your balcony would be a great place).
- Then add your rice to your sensory bin (with toys if you wish) and have a fun time playing with this colorful rice!
My daughter absolutely loves her colored rice, and plays with it every single day. It was well worth the effort to make it.
Tips:
- You can lightly mix your rice halfway trough the drying process to ensure the rice on the bottom is drying as well, but try to keep each color separate until you add it to the bin.
- Wear a smock, or your arts & crafts clothes.
What I Would Have Done Differently:
I would have made 1 cup per color since I ended up saving half in a big zip lock bag for later use in art projects – 2 cups X 6 colors made A LOT of rainbow rice!
And I found that the big jar with a lid worked so well to mix the rice with the color that I didn’t even try to do it with the zip lock type bags.
This At Home Activity was written by Nancy of Frilly Girly.
Thank you Nancy!
