Quickest Way to Dye Rainbow Rice for Sensory Play

Rainbow Rice Sensory Play using Paint Only

Paint only Rainbow Rice is the quickest and easiest rice you’ll ever make!

On days where I feel like I am not progressing much in the home cleanup department, I’ll pull out a rice sensory bin! Sensory play is one of those activities that are perfect open-ended activities and you WILL probably get all the things done around the house!

This rice sensory bin is so easy to make, you’ll add it to your kids activities recipe book. No kidding! It will also last you forever!

Note: If you are new to sensory bins or would love to know everything about them and more, don’t forget to check out The Beginners Guide to Sensory Bins !!

There are many ways you can make a rice for sensory play. We chose to make it this time around in the quickest way. I only used one ingredient – paint! That’s it!

How to create a rainbow rice sensory bin:

Materials:

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• Rice  (We used white rice)
• Paint ( We use Neon Tempera Paint)
• Various tools (plastic/wooden cups and bowls) for pouring

I followed the directions from Imagination Tree to a T to create this: you can find the recipe here. It’s the quickest way to color and dry rice in my opinion. I made mine in zip lock baggies by mixing and set them to dry on an aluminum tray. They were dry in less than 30 minutes. So easy and my toddler and kindergartner loved playing with it.

Once the rice was dry, I placed each color in a plastic bin in rainbow order. The colors are so vibrant and beautiful, it was mesmerizing. My girls dug in and used the bowls and cups for scooping and pouring – great fine motor activity.

My 3 year old would grab a handful of rice and pour it into a bowl and would laugh for joy as she played with the rice.

My girls love sensory bins. They will play with it for 1 hour give or take. We store the rice in zip lock bags for later use.  This rainbow rice sensory play using only paint is so cool. I am so happy I tried it out as we usually make ours with vinegar and food grade dye (also an amazing way to make rice, the colors are so vibrant). So easy. I can’t tell you enough how quick and easy this is to put together and so so fun for my kids.

Will you give this rainbow rice sensory bin a try?