Here are some ideas:
- Pour the rice into a plastic dish tub and give your child scoops, spoons, bowls, and cups. They will have so much fun pouring the rice as well as letting it run through their fingers. A little might get on the floor, but it will vacuum right up.
- Hide small objects like buttons or change in the rice and let your child look for them. With an older child you could put duplicate items to find the match, or time them to see how fast they can find everything.
- Use colored rice in place of glitter to decorate craft projects.
Colorful rice is easy to make and even more fun to play with. Here is what you need:
- Measuring cup
- Glass jar with lid
- Vinegar
- Food Coloring
- Mesh Strainer
- Spoon
- Dish Tub
- Old Newspaper or Magazines
- Uncooked Rice
- Sunshine (It's makes the rice dry faster!)
- Pour 1/2 cup of vinegar into the jar and add a few drops of food coloring. Swirl the jar around to mix.
- Add 1 cup of rice to the jar. Close lid tightly and shake well to make sure all of the rice is mixed in with the colored water.
- Allow jar to sit for 5 minutes.
- Line the dish tub with old newspaper or magazine pages.
- Pour rice into strainer and lightly shake to drain excess water. You will need to use a spoon to get all of it out. Place rice in an even layer on the paper in the tub.
- Put tub out in the sunshine and allow the rice to dry completely. Store in a ziplock baggie or airtight container.
We made blue, green, and red (it looks like pink).
Buddy loves to play with scoops and spoons!
You could complete this in one afternoon, or do it over several days. I did one color a day so that I could use the same dish tub over and over again. It only took 10 minutes to dye the rice and then I would sit it outside and let it dry all afternoon. If you have several tubs, you could do them all at the same time. Have fun!
Always,
Amanda
Always,
Amanda
