1 cup rice (Basmati, long grain or brown)
A container (A tub as shown or a zip up bag also works)
Coloured food gels (Food colouring can be used however take a long time to dry)
Tin foil (Parchement paper can also be used)
A spoon
This is How: We make sensory rice!
websitebuilder • May 13, 2020
This is How: We make sensory rice!
Sensory activities play a huge part in children's development. Not only are they super fun, but they also have lots of benefits. Sensory play is proven to help build nerve connections to the brain and really helps to improve their motor skills. Sensory play can also encourage language use and opens them up to problem solving skills.
We love to have lots of sensory activities in Country Kids and we always look for ways we can make these activities ourselves. Coloured sensory rice is ALWAYS a hit with our children, and is great for parents as it's quick and easy to make!
Here are the ingredients you will need:
Instructions
- Measure out 1 cup of your chosen rice and place it in your container. Here we have used mainly basmati. We used brown rice for the orange - it works but doesn't stain as well in our opinion.
- Add in the food colouring gel of your choice. Here we gave it a good squeeze, between 1/3 to 1/2 of the bottle. For the purple we mixed red and blue together.
- Add half a tablespoon of water. If you add too much water, the process will take longer to dry.
- Mix together with your son until the majority of the rice is covered.
- place on your lid or zip up your bag, and give your rice a good shake! 1-2 minutes is sufficient.
- Lay out your tin foil on a flat surface. We doubled up just to make sure there would be no stains on the worktop.
- Empty your rice out onto the foil and spread with your spoon evenly to allow to dry.
- Your rice should be dry in around an hour. If you use food colouring, it will take almost a day to dry (We trialled this and it took almost 14 hours to fully dry to touch!)
5 ways to enhance learning using sensory rice
- By creating lots of different colours, you can use the rice as an opportunity to look at different colours if your child is still learning
- You could add utensils such as grabbers, scoops or a pestle and mortar to target fine motor skills strengthening finger muscles
- Your child could help making sensory rice, and you could include weighing scales whilst playing to promote mathematical language
- You could use the rice to encourage your child to use their imaginations - what could they make?
- You could add your rice to a small bottle and glue on the lid. These are great for babies to discover and make noise with!
We hope you have lots of fun with your sensory rice!
- The Country Kids Team x
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