Rainbow Rice

This is one of my all time favorite craft/activity!!! Rainbow Rice, it is so much fun to play with especially in the winter when the kiddos can’t be out in the sandbox and it is a wonderful sensory activity because of the different texture. We made this when our first born was 2 years old and he loved it! He loved helping make the rainbow rice and playing in it. He is almost 4 years old now and he still asks to get the bucket out so he can scoop it into piles and drive his tractors through it. I need to admit that it is much less messy now than it used to be. Levi is at an age where he understands that it is much better for the rice to stay in the bucket than throw it all over the floor. (Back in the day when he was 2 it didn’t always stay in the bucket and we would need to get the broom out and sweep it up and dump it back in, but clean up was very easy.)

The other great thing about rainbow rice is that you can make it very inexpensively! I got all of the things I needed for this at the dollar store (except the baking sheets to let it dry on, I already had those in the cupboard).

 

 

What you will need:

 

Rice

Food coloring

 

Rubbing Alcohol

Waxed Paper

Sturdy Ziploc Bags

Baking Sheets

A Shollow Container with a Lid

I also suggest you wear dark or older clothes especially if you plan to have your 2 year old help you dye your rice, just in case there are any spills (food coloring is very tough to get out of clothes and off skin for that matter).

 

For each color I used about  4 cups of rice (1 bag), 2 Tablespoons Rubbing Alcohol and the desired amount of food coloring (if you want it pastel colors use less, if you want darker more vibrant colors use more). Put the Rubbing Alcohol, food coloring and rice in a Ziploc bag and seal it. Now shake it, roll it and squish it until the rice is completely coated with color. The rubbing alcohol smell can be a little strong so just keep that in mind, maybe have your favorite candle going while you do this project (just keep it a safe distance away from where you are working).

Pour the rice out onto cookie sheets covered with waxed paper (this makes clean up super easy). And allow it to dry in the sunlight for a couple hours.

Once it has dried pour it into a short storage container and add some fun toys! Your rainbow rice is ready to be enjoyed by kids of all ages (2 and up). I do want to warn you that little hands will be funny-colored after the first couple times of playing in the rice but it easily washes off with soap and water!

Now a little story that came about after we made rainbow rice for the first time…

Levi was helping me color our rainbow rice and he was so excited to the finished product! He must have taken the time to really soak it all in because a couple days later I had an idea to color some penne noodles to use to make necklaces and bracelets. I thought I would color the pasta while Levi was watching a movie to minimize the mess and time it would take but it didn’t take very long for Levi to follow his nose into the kitchen and ask if I was making more rainbow rice! He was so excited when he smelled the rubbing alcohol! I tried to explain that he wasn’t smelling rainbow rice but rubbing alcohol. Levi’s sense of smell had really been keen that week because a couple days later I had just blown out a candle and the scent of smoke was still lingering…well, Levi walked into the room and told me it smelled like dinner! Just to be fair I hadn’t burned dinner in a very long time – he must have thought daddy was cooking or something :)