Long winter days indoors can be a challenge when you have little ones.
There have been few days that we have been able to get outside to play,
so I have been looking for activities to keep The Attic
Baby busy that don't require spending money.
One of the activities that has been a big hit is the rice table. She loves colored rice and will spend hours sitting and scooping, burying different toys and digging them out.
We had put our rice table away after creating our Fall themed Rice (our whole family got sick around the holidays so we never got to make Christmas colors), so she was excited to take it back out and make a Valentine's Day theme.
If you haven't colored rice before, here are the ingredients you will need:
Coloring rice is pretty easy. I measured about 4 cups of rice 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've seen people use Kool-Aid too but I am afraid of attracting little bugs and/or ants)
The Attic Baby loves helping; her favorite part is shaking the bag and watching the color spread.
Once we had the shade of reddish pink I wanted, I poured the rice onto cookie sheets covered with tin foil to dry. It took about an hour.
I mixed some white rice in with the pinkish red in our water table. We added some funnels, scoopers, and a water bottle that we already had.
One of the activities that has been a big hit is the rice table. She loves colored rice and will spend hours sitting and scooping, burying different toys and digging them out.
We had put our rice table away after creating our Fall themed Rice (our whole family got sick around the holidays so we never got to make Christmas colors), so she was excited to take it back out and make a Valentine's Day theme.
Step 1: Coloring the Rice
If you haven't colored rice before, here are the ingredients you will need:
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 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've seen people use Kool-Aid too but I am afraid of attracting little bugs and/or ants)
The Attic Baby loves helping; her favorite part is shaking the bag and watching the color spread.
Once we had the shade of reddish pink I wanted, I poured the rice onto cookie sheets covered with tin foil to dry. It took about an hour.
Step 2: Arrange Your Rice Table
I mixed some white rice in with the pinkish red in our water table. We added some funnels, scoopers, and a water bottle that we already had.
Though it's a pretty simple project, it provides hours of fun for my preschooler!
How do you keep your little one busy during these long winter months?
What a great activity! I would like playing in the rice, too!
ReplyDeleteI'm going to need something like this for the next two days since we are snowed in.
ReplyDeleteOur son has a sensory bin at school, but I didn't realize what it took to create on.
Great tutorial!
What a fun idea to do with the kids. They could make some fun Valentine's Day inspired maraccas with the rice!
ReplyDeleteThis is so fun. I remember doing this with my class when student teaching in College. I used to love watching the kids toss the rice up into the air during play time. Thanks for the fun idea…going to try it with my kids
ReplyDeleteGreat idea - I never thought about rice in this way.
ReplyDeleteWhen my kids were little, I kept a rice "table" in our kitchen all the time. I think it's one of the best activities for preschoolers ever. I love the idea of coloring it!
ReplyDeletePretty interesting. I didn't know you can make use of rice grains for that project :)
ReplyDelete