This Colorful Rainbow Sensory Rice Bin is a great way to help your little ones engage in fun and imaginative play.
My children had a ton of fun playing withe Rice bins. Through the years, I’ve made several different colors and themes of Rice bins according to each season. Now that they are bigger, I don’t make them like before but I wanted to share this colorful one I made so you can have a tutorial. See my original Rice Play Post Here.
Make a Colorful Sensory Rice Bin
Colorful Rice bins are super fun to look at and even more fun to play with. Making a Colorful Rice bin is super easy. White Rice, food coloring and a small amount of liquid is all you need. You can make rice sensory bins at home and customize the colors according to the season or theme. If you want to make a Princess themed look, you might choose colors such as pink and purple. If you desire a trucks and cars look, you might choose colors like red and blue. Or if you desire something seasonal, you might make the colors red and green for Christmas or brown and orange or Fall, Pink and Red for Valentines, etc.
The best part is when you add all the little themed or seasonal trinkets in the bins for the kids to play with – dig with shovels or scoop and find things hidden in the rice or whatever they ideas these little ones come up with as they play.
Are Rice Bins Safe?
Rice bins can be a safe activity for young children based upon what you add to it, especially for the ones who tend to put everything in their mouths. While the rice is uncooked, it’s safe to eat. However, if you have kids who put small toys in their mouths, you might consider adding larger toys in the bins that make it hard to swallow.
In this post, I’m sharing a full photo and video tutorial of how I create a standard rice bin. I made several colors for a rainbow bin – That way, you get the full tutorial for all (or most) seasons.
How to Make Colored Rice – Dyed Rice
You’ll need:
• White Rice
• Food Coloring of Choice
• Water or Vinegar
• Ziplock Bags
Directions:
• Pour 1 cup Rice in a Ziplock Bag.
• Add 2-3 drops Food Coloring.
• Add 1 tsp Water or vinegar.
• Zip bag and shake until the rice has mixed with the food coloring.
• Add more food coloring if needed plus a tiny bit of water.
• Pour rice out in a bin.
• Repeat the steps to make different colors of Rice.
Note: You could spread rice out on a tray to dry fully but I don’t always find that necessary. The rice dries pretty quickly since we’re only using a small amount of water or vinegar.
Mixing Up the Rice
We could have left all the pretty colors but eventually, that pretty look will be all mixed up as they play. You could add the toys prior to mixing up the rice or you can mix the rice then add toys. Either way, the rice will be a pretty sensory bin for the kids.
Once you the rice is ready for play, add it to a bin, then add toys, alphabet letters, fake fruits, all kinds of fun stuff for the children to play.
Pin This Rice Bin to Make or Share
She looketh well to the ways of the household, and eateth not the bread of idleness (Proverbs 31:27).
