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Friday, July 30, 2010

Colored Rice and Noodles



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Colored rice can be used in all sorts of craft and sensory play activities. Its also fun to color noodles because there are so many different fun shapes and sizes! It makes a great sensory bin material, which is how I used it when it was finished. 
I have a few crafty projects in mind for it after L mixes all the colors.

Its super easy to do!


What you Need
rubbing alcohol or vinegar
uncooked white rice and/or  a variety of noodles
food coloring 
plastic baggies or just a bowl
*essential oils or extracts for scent

Directions
1. Pour 2 tsp of alcohol into a bowl or the plastic baggie
-If you use a bowl use a metal bowl so it wont stain
-I used a bowl and not the baggie so I could experiement with the colors easier


2. Add your color to the alcohol (8-10 drops for very bright colors)
-Experiment with lots of different colors!


3. Pour 2 cups of rice or noodles into a baggie or bowl and then add your color mix. If your adding an essential oil or extract for scent, add it now as well.
-I don't recommend mixing rice and noodles together because its hard to get the color even


4. Make sure its sealed tightly and then shake, and manipulate the rice and color until all the rice is completely saturated.


6. Then lay the rice out on a cookie sheet to dry. Drying time will vary
-I put down wax paper over my pan first
-I set the cookie sheets outside for faster drying (1 hour)



When its dry your free to play! 
Store in sealed container or baggies.
Rice will be a bit dusty and you'll notice colored dust on your hands but it rubs and washed right off.






L's Rainbow Rice Sensory Bin
So pretty! I hardly wanted to let him play with it! haha

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He loved funneling the rice








Put a plastic table cloth underneath for easy cleanup and less waste!






aaaand just another rainbow pic. 
I had to take lots because I knew it would stay that way for about 1 second after L started on it!







For more colored rice play, click on the photo's below








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9 comments:

  1. The drop cloth under the rice box is a lifesaver!!

    Here's a link to our Rainbow Rice box:
    http://pinkandgreenmama.blogspot.com/2009/07/rainbow-rice-is-twice-as-nice.html

    We also like to play with our Rainbow Rice in our Water table - it gives us a bit more room to use funnels, scoops, and different containers. : )

    Fondly,
    pink and green mama,
    MaryLea

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  2. Cute blog. Following you from Bloggy Moms. Check out my blog as well: diaperderby.blogspot.com.

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  3. Thanks for the instructions, I made the colored rice this weekend for my older kids. They created glue pictures with it...but couldn't stand NOT having all colors mixed together so by the end it was just a rainbow jumble, but boy did they have fun.

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  4. Do you throw it away after playing?

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  5. oh noo, I usually never throw away dry sensory material. I store it in gallon size baggies and reuse it over and over.

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  6. We have a couple of different bins full of rice with various things hidden inside. We pull them out after reading certain books for example after going on a Bear hunt I hid plastic bears in there for them to hunt. I also put various other small toys and trinkets forth to find and discuss. I put different things in there according to the theme of our lesson.

    I teach a 2/3 yr old homeschool do-op class and I also use them at home with my 6 and 3 yr olds. I have one bin full of bird seed, it's just something I happened to have on hand.

    I've colors macaroni before but used vinegar instead of alcohol. Does it make the colors darker?

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  7. I just started using pintrest and I am amazed at all the wonderful things to do with children on here. I am a mom of four my youngest is 12 ail be 13 on the 18th of this month. I was missing all the fun play times when my kids were younger and now I'm watching my friends baby Monday threw Friday. I cant wait to show Jaycees all of these bins!! Thank you so much for posting all of the bins. I'm off to the dollar tree to get started :)

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  8. I just started using pintrest and I am amazed at all the wonderful things to do with children on here. I am a mom of four my youngest is 12 will be 13 on the 18th of this month. I was missing all the fun play times when my kids were younger and now I'm watching my friends baby Monday threw Friday. I cant wait to show Jaycees all of these bins!! Thank you so much for posting all of the bins. I'm off to the dollar tree to get started :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. This worked beautifully. We had some very eager six year olds and cut the time to five minutes of soaking and 3 minutes of drying (helped along by a hair dryer). They were thrilled to finish their necklaces during our short time together.

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