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).