Rainbow rice is an excellent sensory activity for children.
We are always on the lookout for activities that will stimulate our children's imaginations. We feel particularly smug when these activities have layers of learning involved too. A sensory activity such as playing with rainbow rice has a number of developmental benefits. It helps with hand-eye coordination, fine motor skills and learning about different colours.
Many parents are apprehensive about messy/sensory play due to fears of a mammoth clean-up afterwards. We totally understand this because realistically who wants another daily chore? Not us. However, this one really isn't so bad. Because the rice is dry it is super easy to sweep up or clear away. This activity is probably better suited to an older child of pre-school age who won't be tempted to eat the rice.
Making your own rainbow rice couldn't be easier. You only need three ingredients and the kids will love helping you create such a beautiful sensory activity.
You Will Need
- White Rice
- White Vinegar
- Food Colouring
Time needed:Â 3 minutes.
Make Your Own Rainbow Rice
- Place one cup of rice in to a sandwich bag
- Add one tablespoon of white vinegar
- Add food colouring of choice (you can also use paint)
- Shake the bag well to disperse the vinegar and food colouring
- Lay the rice on a plate or paper towel and leave to dry for a couple of hours
- Repeat steps 1-5 with different food colouring of choice
- Store in a mason jar or enjoy some play time straight away
How To Play With Rainbow Rice?
Once it's ready there are so many different ways to play with the rainbow rice. It is an excellent colour sorting activity, can be used in a sandpit (instead of sand) and can be a brilliant way to encourage hands-on sensory play for a kid who does not enjoy their hands being messy. Round up some cups, scoops and tools and let your children use their imagination - they might just surprise you. Here are some ideas we found on Instagram!
The feature image in this post is from sphilipps Instagram account.
