Today I am sharing another great recipe for playtime fun with your kids – rainbow colored rice. All you need are 3 simple ingredients you probably have on hand right now in your kitchen – rice, food coloring, and water. But before we dive in, let’s discuss for a moment why materials like rainbow rice, are important activities for young children. This type of activity is called sensory play. Sensory play includes any activity that stimulates your child’s senses: touch, smell, taste, movement, balance, sight and hearing. Children use all of these senses to explore and try to make sense of the world around them. Sensory play also offers children a chance for self-expression because there is no right way to play with the materials. This rainbow rice can be played with in endless ways. You can choose a theme like we did here – kitty playground – just add small toy cats, mini pom poms, cups, and spoons for her to practice scooping, and pouring.
Rainbow rice is quick and easy to make, but will need to dry overnight. I encourage you to invite your child to color the rice with you. So let’s get to making.
What you’ll need:
- Rice
- Food coloring or liquid watercolors
- Water
- Ziploc bag or sealable plastic container
- Wax paper
Directions:
Put 1 cup of dry rice and either 10 drops of food coloring in 1 teaspoon of water, or 1 teaspoon of liquid watercolors into a ziplock bag or sealable plastic container. For deeper, more vibrant colors, add an extra 3 drops of food coloring or 1/4 teaspoon liquid watercolors per 1 cup of rice.
Seal bag or container and shake vigorously until rice is completely coated with color.
Spread colored rice out on a sheet of wax paper and allow to dry for several hours or overnight.
