Fall is my favorite time of year! I love cooler weather, the smell of pumpkins, and fun activities to celebrate the changing of the season.
I made an easy Fall Themed Rice Table for The Attic Baby this past week that I thought I'd share with you.
Items Needed:
Coloring rice is pretty easy. I measured about 4 cups of rice (I had some leftover and then bought some extra bags at the dollar store) in a ziplock bag. Then I added 1 tbs of rubbing alcohol (you can use vinegar but I heard that this dries quicker), 4 drops of red, and about 8 drops of yellow food coloring and sealed the bag.
I had the kids shake the bags. Surprisingly, even my teen thought this was fun.
Once we had the shade of orange I wanted, I poured the rice onto cookie sheets covered with tin foil to dry. It took about an hour.
I ran out of yellow food coloring, so I decided to mix some white rice in with the orange.
Step 2: Arrange Your Rice Table
Instead of using a large bin, I decided to clean up our water table from this summer. I added the colored rice and white rice, some measuring cups, a cup that came with the water table, craft gourds I found at the dollar store, and a tuna strainer from the kitchen. I couldn't find a funnel at the dollar store, so I am going to have to hunt one down.
Step 3: Let the Play Begin!
Once everything was set up, The Attic Baby went to town scooping, digging, tossing, and burying gourds in the rice. She played for nearly 2 hours! My son played for a little while too; he helped bury things for her to dig out and find.
The rice table was a HUGE hit! She's played with it for a while nearly every day since we put it together. Mind you, there's been quite a bit of vacuuming too, but it's well worth a little mess.
I think next time we'll do a Christmas theme!
Do you have any fun fall sensory bin ideas? Feel free to link them up below.
I made an easy Fall Themed Rice Table for The Attic Baby this past week that I thought I'd share with you.
Step 1: Coloring the Rice
Items Needed:
- rice
- food coloring
- food storage bags
- rubbing alcohol (or you can use vinegar)
- storage container
- cookie sheets
- tin foil or wax paper
Coloring rice is pretty easy. I measured about 4 cups of rice (I had some leftover and then bought some extra bags at the dollar store) in a ziplock bag. Then I added 1 tbs of rubbing alcohol (you can use vinegar but I heard that this dries quicker), 4 drops of red, and about 8 drops of yellow food coloring and sealed the bag.
I had the kids shake the bags. Surprisingly, even my teen thought this was fun.
Once we had the shade of orange I wanted, I poured the rice onto cookie sheets covered with tin foil to dry. It took about an hour.
I ran out of yellow food coloring, so I decided to mix some white rice in with the orange.
Step 2: Arrange Your Rice Table
Instead of using a large bin, I decided to clean up our water table from this summer. I added the colored rice and white rice, some measuring cups, a cup that came with the water table, craft gourds I found at the dollar store, and a tuna strainer from the kitchen. I couldn't find a funnel at the dollar store, so I am going to have to hunt one down.
Step 3: Let the Play Begin!
Once everything was set up, The Attic Baby went to town scooping, digging, tossing, and burying gourds in the rice. She played for nearly 2 hours! My son played for a little while too; he helped bury things for her to dig out and find.
The rice table was a HUGE hit! She's played with it for a while nearly every day since we put it together. Mind you, there's been quite a bit of vacuuming too, but it's well worth a little mess.
I think next time we'll do a Christmas theme!
Do you have any fun fall sensory bin ideas? Feel free to link them up below.
I used to do these with my preschool classes...such a great way to teach young children all kinds of things: measurement,practicing touch without sight - all kinds of things! I like your idea of doing a Christmas theme next time! How fun!
ReplyDeleteSuch a great idea!
ReplyDeleteOkay, this is TOO cute! I love sensory activities, and my almost 5-year-old still does too. What a fun way to keep up with the seasons too!
ReplyDeleteCute idea, I never thought to colour the rice!
ReplyDeleteUntil now I had NO idea how to color rice, thank you so much. This is very cool
ReplyDeleteMy guy LOVES playing in the sensory bin. Great idea to have some fun with colours!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great idea. I never did one of those but I know this is something my MOPs buddies would love.
ReplyDeleteWow what a great idea! I love how it turned out! I've got to try this!
ReplyDeleteI don't have any children but if I did I would certainly do this with them--it looks like great fun!
ReplyDeleteHow fun is this! My kids would love it-thanks so much for sharing!!
ReplyDeletewow! This is neat! Looks like she had a lot of fun!
ReplyDeleteThis is so cute! I will have to try it with my children
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