Kids learn and play with their senses and I’ve always been a big fan of something we can make at home that is also colorful to play with.
This Rainbow Rice Sensory Bin is a great way to engage your children in play by using their hands, eyes, and a bit of imagination.
What is sensory play?
Sensory play is any playtime which stimulates the use of touch, smell, sight, hearing while using fine motor muscles.
Stimulating neural pathways through sensory experiences is a crucial part of kids’ early brain development.
What makes this rice sensory bin fun?
This rainbow rice sensory bin is great because it’s simple to make, inexpensive, colorful and can be used in a variety of ways.
Aside from allowing your child to play with the colored rice, you can also add all sorts of toys and trinkets to it to engage more fun. Think of an iSpy game or a game of hide – n- seek using toys hidden in the rice.
Rainbow Rice Sensory Bin
What you’ll need to make this Rainbow Rice Sensory Bin:
- Plain uncooked white rice
- Tempera paints in rainbow colors (food coloring may be substituted)
- Large Plastic Zipper Bags
- Bin to hold rice
- Small toys and trinkets (optional)
How to make a Rainbow Rice Sensory Bin:
Divide your rice into 6 bags – one for each color of the rainbow (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple). Add a small amount of paint to each bag. Close the bag and shake until the rice is completely coated. If there is any white rice left, add another splash of paint to the bag and repeat the process.
Once all the bags of rice have been colored, allow the rice to dry in open air for a couple of hours (or overnight).
One option for the drying process is to lay the rice on a baking sheet. To keep the colors separated, create little foil “boats” to pour each color of the rice in and gently spread the rice out. This keeps the colors separated and still allows it to get some air to dry quicker.
Also, it’s easy to simply pick up each foil packet and gently pour it into the bin when you’re ready. Just make sure to pour one color at a time in a straight vertical line to keep the colors separate initially for the rainbow effect.
Once the rice has dried, you can place place cups, shovels, stirrers, small toys, etc. in the bin. Kids can bury the items, pour from shovels into cups, etc.
You could even add a little essential oil in the bags in the initial stages of creating the rice if you want to create scented rice!
Let your kids have fun playing with their new Rainbow Rice Sensory Bin. Remember, you can keep this and store it away for future use (I use the lid my bin came with).
Rainbow Rice Sensory Bin
Materials
- Plain uncooked white rice
- Tempera paints in rainbow colors food coloring may be substituted
- Large Plastic Zipper Bags
- Bin to hold rice
- Small toys and trinkets optional
Instructions
- Divide your rice into 6 bags – one for each color of the rainbow (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple). Add a small amount of paint to each bag. Close the bag and shake until the rice is completely coated. If there is any white rice left, add another splash of paint to the bag and repeat the process.
- Once all the bags of rice have been colored, allow the rice to dry in open air for a couple of hours (or overnight).
- One option for the drying process is to lay the rice on a baking sheet. To keep the colors separated, create little foil “boats” to pour each color of the rice in and gently spread the rice out. This keeps the colors separated and still allows it to get some air to dry quicker.
- Also, it’s easy to simply pick up each foil packet and gently pour it into the bin when you’re ready. Just make sure to pour one color at a time in a straight vertical line to keep the colors separate initially for the rainbow effect.
- Once the rice has dried, you can place place cups, shovels, stirrers, small toys, etc. in the bin. Kids can bury the items, pour from shovels into cups, etc.
- You could even add a little essential oil in the bags in the initial stages of creating the rice if you want to create scented rice!
- Let your kids have fun playing with their new Rainbow Rice Sensory Bin. Remember, you can keep this and store it away for future use (I use the lid my bin came with).