Sensory Play - No Bake Colored Rice

Today I'm sharing with you a No Bake Colored Rice sensory activity.

Colored rice is a great sensory bin addition. Some times I'll add it to our bigger sensory bin, which is just a plastic underbed storage box. But, most times, I just add it to a plastic shoe box! It's a smaller, more manageable sensory box that I let the kids play with inside. Add cups, spoons, plastic animals and small dump trucks and let the kids use their imagination!

The Supplies:

• Packets of Kool-Aid
• Gallon Size Freezer Bags
• Rubbing Alcohol
• Rice

With summer approaching, I loathe turning on the oven if I don't have to! Ain't got time for that (well,
unless it's to bake cookies, then I got time for that!). That's why I love this colored rice technique! Not only is there no oven, but there's no messy food coloring/dye and it smells pretty yummy!

So, the how to...Get a freezer bag for each color you are preparing. In each bag, put 2 cups of uncooked white rice. Pour a packet of Kool-Aid in each bag, followed by 1 teaspoon of rubbing alcohol. Zip the bags (TIGHTLY!) and mix the Kool-Aid in until the color is coating all of the rice.

Let the bags rest (I made them flat) for about 15 minutes (or 2 hours if you were stuck watching the Teen Mom 2 marathon - DON'T JUDGE).

I made little rice boats out of foil and spread it out on a cookie sheet, as flat as I could and let it dry overnight.

The next day, I placed the rice back in Ziplocs and we were good to go for sensory play! The colors are really vibrant and don't rub off on my kiddo's hands. The green is going to be a great grass for a Farm sensory bin! I think blue would be super fun for an Ocean bin, too!

I imagine you could probably have the kiddos help you make it by mixing the tightly zipped bags. I think my boys would love that part and I'm going to let them do that next time!

Hope you have fun with this "recipe"! See? Sensory play isn't expensive or hard to do!