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Sensory play with rice is one of two-year-old Lily’s favorite activities! Colored rice is a super easy to make, and I’ve found that it lasts a long time – we only have to sweep/vacuum a little bit after every play session. Of course, it’s a different story if you have a kid who up-ends their tray, but my kids just don’t have that personality. So far, at least. We’ll see if number four decides to break the mold…
This time, for example, Lily spent a LONG time just looking at the colors sitting next to each other. Then she asked for cars and marbles, and they sat arranged like this for a while:
Eventually, the cars drove around, thoroughly mixing the pink and green rice. Lily loved feeling both the rice and the larger, smooth marbles slip through her fingers:
As it happens, rice also makes an excellent sandbox for teeny tiny toys! Different day – over two weeks later – but same shirt. And same (lack of) hairdo. She loves her snail shirt. Hairdos, not so much.
Do your kids enjoy playing with colored rice? Do you have other fun sensory activities to recommend?
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Definitely looks like that provides lots of fun!
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Looks like fun! My two-year-old often wears the same shirt and the same lack of hairdo, too…
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maryanne Reply:
January 27th, 2012 at 8:48 am
I think your two-year-old and my two-year-old would get along beautifully =)
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Lily is precious with or without a hairdo!
We haven’t done colored rice here…yet, my oldest just walked up and said “Ooo what’s that? can we do that?”
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maryanne Reply:
January 27th, 2012 at 10:26 am
They would love it! It can get messy, depending how kids decide to use it =)
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Shaving cream, that’s so much fun. Sadly my kids tend to make big messes of it, so we don’t really do sensory boxes.
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maryanne Reply:
January 27th, 2012 at 10:23 am
Would you believe we’ve never done shaving cream?
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OH YOU HAVE to try shaving cream – my kids LOVE it!!!!!!!!!!!! They like to play with colored rice too.
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maryanne Reply:
January 27th, 2012 at 10:28 am
I know! Somehow haven’t been brave enough, which is funny because messes don’t usually intimidate me…
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Didi Reply:
January 27th, 2012 at 11:05 pm
Just put a tarp down, and dunk them in the tub when they are done! You have to try the shaving cream. There is nothing quite like it.
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This is great! I’ve never done this but can see there are so many fun possibilities. I would make my kids play with it outside. They tend to get crazy and messy with pretty much anything.
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maryanne Reply:
January 27th, 2012 at 3:24 pm
Outside is a great location for this activity! It’s a little cold here, though =)
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I love the picture of the squinkies in the rice!
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maryanne Reply:
January 27th, 2012 at 3:25 pm
She LOVES squinkies =)
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This is fun, and Anna always enjoys playing with colored rice when she gets an opportunity. We don’t play with rice at home for 2 reasons. One is an inevitable mess, and another is that I am philosophically against playing with food.
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maryanne Reply:
January 27th, 2012 at 3:27 pm
We used rice that turned out to be both a miserable texture and a miserable taste. And in the past we’ve used rice that fell on the floor, etc. I’m against taking food for granted, but I don’t really see a difference between this and playing with small chemically-manufactured, much less eco-friendly toys, or – perhaps a better parallel – play dough.
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One of New Kids favorite things is driving cars through trays of grains and beans. I’m not afraid of the mess — that is what vacuum cleaners are for!
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How fun! I’m missing my days with kids young enough for this… We used all sorts of things-rice, lentils, beans. All fun!
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Great ideas – love em!
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We haven’t done rice sensory play yet, but I am planning to soon. I know my little boy would love to get some of his little cars into something like this. :)
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Adding color to the rice is a great idea. I’ll have to try that.
We love sensory boxes. I think my favorite is our giant pasta “jacuzzi”. We have one of those under-the-bed storage bins, and we fill it with pasta, scoops, cups and funnels. We just climb right in and sit IN the pasta! So much fun.
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Looks like Lily really enjoys her coloured rice.
We tend to stick to larger pasta pieces (bigger pieces seem to be more manageable than having rice strewn everywhere).
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What child wouldn’t love to play with colored rice?
I am going to do this next week…thanks!
We will have it everywhere!
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I like how there were two colors of rice, and Lily got the fun of mixing them. I think I would really enjoy doing that if I were I child.
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That looks so fun! It seems I always have a bag of rice that some electronic device that took a bath has to sit in for a couple of days. This would be much better than throwing it away…
Sandy
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I think coloring the rice is a great idea! You are so creative! Keep the ideas flowing.
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My kids have never heard of playing with colored rice.
Because, as you know, they have “that personality.” They would play Mardi Gras with the rice, and fling it all over the kitchen!
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maryanne Reply:
February 1st, 2012 at 1:54 pm
My children’s utter absence of “that personality” cracks me up. Of course, I was just like them as a kid, and so was Mike. My siblings were not – and nor are their kids!!!
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You’ve really captured that thoughtful look on Lily’s face so beautifully. I love the idea of her taking a moment just to reflect.
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Even I enjoy playing with rice :)
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My youngest does have the personality to turn over the rice!! But no matter what we’re doing, he’s probably making a mess, it’s just his curious personality, so we just roll with it!
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Three girls and none are great fans of “hair-dos”,… more the hair-don’ts :). What they DO like are hairbands with hugs flowers on them. I’d like to make some flat flower harcips with felt sometime soon.
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maryanne Reply:
February 14th, 2012 at 8:23 pm
No luck with headbands here so far! I’ve seen some very cute felt hair clips online!
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