You might also want to check out a few of our other Sensory Play Recipes:
Toddlers, preschoolers and big kids too will all love this rainbow rice sensory play activity. Sensory play stimulates the senses. It helps children engage in the world around them and experiment with different science processes.
Rice sensory bins are GREAT for this since kids can use their sense of sight to explore the different colours and their sense of touch to explore the texture of the rice as well as discovering what happens when they pour rice into different containers. Have you ever tried pouring rice from old hand to another? The feeling of the rice falling threw your hands is so relaxing!
Scroll down below to get started making your own coloured rice.
Rainbow rice sensory bin
Supplies needed for rainbow rice:
- Uncooked white rice
- Food colouring
- Vinegar
- Ziplock bag
For coloured rice sensory play:
- Sensory tray or bin
- Rainbow accessory toys
- Small figures
- Scoops, pots, funnels, etc
How to make coloured rice
STEP 1: Gather rainbow rice ingredients
Before you begin, gather up all the ingredients needed to make your coloured rice. Having everything to hand makes the process so much easier.
Note: the rice will take an hour to dry so hold off on gathering up all your sensory play toys just yet.
STEP 2: Prepare the rainbow rice
To get started preparing the rainbow rice, fill a ziplock bag half full of uncooked rice for each colour you'd like. We used five colours so I filled five bags with rice.
Next, add a few drops of food colouring and a squirt of vinegar to each bag.
Seal the bag and mix until fully coated in colour. Add more food colouring until you're happy with the result.
Get the kids involved in this step. They will love throwing the bag of rice about and shaking it up and down as they watch the rice change colour.
Get the kids involved in this step. They will love throwing the bag of rice about and shaking it up and down as they watch the rice change colour.
Pour the rice into separate trays to dry as shown below. Wait about an hour for it to fully dry.
Coloured rice storage: to store your rainbow rice add the rice into jars or other airtight containers. If kept dry and stored correctly coloured rice lasts a LONG time.
STEP 3: Engage in play with rice sensory bin
Once the rainbow rice has dried, it's time to play!
Pour the coloured rice into a small tray or bin. Pour in one colour at a time to create a rainbow effect. You have to agree that this looks super inviting! (even I wanted to play!)
Sensory bins have endless possibilities, but here are just a few of our favourite ways to play with a rainbow rice sensory bin:
Pour the coloured rice into a small tray or bin. Pour in one colour at a time to create a rainbow effect. You have to agree that this looks super inviting! (even I wanted to play!)
Ways to play with a rainbow rice sensory bin
Sensory bins have endless possibilities, but here are just a few of our favourite ways to play with a rainbow rice sensory bin:
Create a scene with rainbows and unicorns (or any other small world toys)
Mix all the coloured rice together
Add some scoops and pots for pouring
Fine motor tools work well too
There are so many other ways to play too, so get creative and have fun!
Even just burying your hands in the rice is fun!
Keep some red rice aside for this Valentine's Day sensory bin!
We hope you have LOADS of fun engaging in sensory play with this rainbow rice sensory bin activity. Toddlers and preschoolers are sure to love exploring the coloured rice and finding different ways to play. And you'll love how easy it is to setup too!
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