Rainbow Rice Activities and How to Make It

I was first inspired to make rainbow rice after seeing it on Bianca’s A Little Delightful blog HERE late last year. It was on my gunnadoo list for a while (OK many months!), but after having so much fun and success with colouring pasta, I couldn’t wait to give it a go.

It really is very easy and not much different to colouring the pasta. Simply start by dividing the rice up in equal measures and placing it in ziplock plastic bags.

Place a very small amount of food colouring into each – very small. This is seriously all that you need! Squirt in a bit of hand sanitiser which helps to mix the colouring but also dries quickly so the rice doesn’t start to swell.

Zip the bag up and moosh it all up to get an even coating. Then spread the rice onto separate trays to dry for a few hours.

I kept the pasta separated in colours but it is IMPOSSIBLE to do that with rice, as it really does go everywhere. In fact, unless you have one of THESE handy, then I really suggest that you set this up as an outside activity.

But OH what you can do with it!!! The possibilities are endless and these are just a few things that the children were wanting to do to start with. I sent Fred around the house with bucket and asked him to find 10 small objects – around the size of a 10c or 20c piece.

We spread the rainbow rice into a roasting pan and buried the treasures. The children then took turns of closing their eyes, and feeling through the rice for the items. They had to try to identify each item with their eyes closed. This is a brilliant sensory play activity!

I gave Lucy some of the equipment from our Home Corner station – bowls, pouring cup, scoop, and measuring spoon.

She was able to move the rice between containers and watch what happens when you use different equipment for the same task.

Rice is one of those incredibly satisfying things to touch. You can pour it, shake it, dig it, grab it, shape it – no matter what it just feels GOOD!

There are so many other uses for rice, so try and keep as much as you can after each activity! I store ours in a Tupperware container so it is airtight and stays fresh. But a clear plastic bottle is another fantastic storage option as it looks so bright colourful on the shelf (throw in a couple of small objects and you have yourself a quick and easy i-spy bottle!).