We love dying rice with food coloring and Purell. My kids love the sensory play experience of manipulating on trays.
This time Emma surprised me by forming the rice into artistic creations. I was most impressed by her cat (above) and butterfly (below).
She also formed the word “Boo” in honor of Halloween, a monster man, a flower, and a spider. And, of course, an “E” for Emma:
Johnny and Lily weren’t interested in forming letters and pictures, but they did enjoy playing with the rice. Johnny focused on building a tall mountain of rice:
And Lily was enthralled, watching it fall from her fingers:
We store our rice in an old Nutella jar, and though we lose a few grains every time we play, it should last us a long time. We pulled it out a few more times last week, and Lily played with it on her own for a full hour while Emma and Johnny were in school – and another hour after they came home and joined her!
Do you play with rice in your house? We’ve also turned it into some fun egg shakers!
MaryAnne is a craft loving educator, musician, photographer, and writer who lives in Silicon Valley with her husband Mike and their four children.
I love this idea…and I have never tried it before! I’d love for you to stop by and share this (or another great activity) at my new Thrifty Thursday Linky Party this Thursday!
http://www.playingwithwords365.com/
The color is so vivid. This is a wonderful activity for your children. Carolyn
Emma’s rice pictures are amazing.
I read your comment about Emma drawing the shapes in her test and then using her response to make a house. Go Emma!! Love that her creativity shines through. I bet the person marking the test smiled when they saw her brilliance!
This is a fantastic idea… BUT! How on earth do you keep them from throwing it all over the counter/table and floor? Because that is what my boys would have the most fun doing!
I only have one boy, first of all. That makes a big difference! And, if they start throwing rice, they lose their trays =)
I’ve never dyed rice before! This looks so fun! I can’t help but imagine if you took a bunch of photos while they played it’d make a way cool animation!
I love your idea of taking a bunch of photos for an animation!!!
Those are some fantastic pictures! I forget about favorite activities all the time. How does that happen? Lol Thankfully, the blogging community always comes to the rescue.
I love that aspect of blogland – as well as inspiration for new activities! =)
I didn’t know you could dye rice with Purell. I knew about alcohol, but Purell seems like it would dry faster.
Purell works great – it’s the only way we’ve done it! It dries super fast.
wow that colour is fabulous. I’ve never dyed rice before but I am guessing it is easy and I know the kids would love it :-)
It is super easy – add vinegar or rubbing alcohol or purell (alcohol-based hand sanitizer) to a bag of rice along with some food coloring, and shake. Then spread it out to dry and enjoy =)
I’ve been meaning to make some rice egg shakers. Is the dye coming off on his hands?
His fingers are red, but that’s because he grabbed rice out of the bag while it was still wet from the dye. If you’re willing to wait a few seconds for it to dry, you don’t get food coloring on your fingers.
That is an awesome idea! Thanks for sharing!
these are awesome creations…totally fun!
I need to do this with my wee ones!
They will LOVE it!!!
Wow, Emma’s creations are great. She is definitely growing to be very artistic.
We’re out of school all week. This looks like a great way to keep the girls entertained!
I wish we were out of school! My kids only get five days off for Christmas!
Wow! Those are quite impressive creations! Definitely an artist on your hands!
Love the vivid colour! And Emma’s creations are truly impressive.
I love seeing her try new things as a young artist.
I also love that, on her school test last week, when she was told to draw one rectangle, three triangles, one circle, four lines, and four squares, she followed the instructions in such a way that she built three houses, one with a door, and a sun with four rays =)
That is AWESOME.
That is so cool!
I am super impressed with Emma’s art. I thought you had made the pictures until I read the rest of the post!
My kids love to dye rice. That cat is fantastic!
The cat is my favorite =)
I always forget about dying rice! This will be a good winter in-the-house activity for us.
It’s a favorite winter/gloomy day activity in our home! So quick and easy =)