Rainbow Rice Sensory Bin

How is everyone feeling as we transition away from summer? Here in Michigan, morning temps are cooler and the grass has been very dewy. This makes it difficult to get outside with the kids (especially one just learning how to walk) without making a giant mess or needing to change clothes, so I’m reaching for more inside activities for the mornings lately.

If you’ve been here for even just a few weeks, you have probably noticed my love of sensory bins!

kids playing with colored rice in sensory bin

The sensory bin for today feels much more complex than it actually is. It took me over 2 years to work up the courage to do make colored rice for the first time, but I love it now!

Here’s what you need

Rice. Get the least expensive rice you can find. I bought a 20-pound bag from our grocery store for under $11 about a year ago. I love rice as a sensory bin base and we are about 3/4 of the way through it after this activity. You can get a smaller bag if you don’t want to store 20 pounds of rice.
Sensory bin
Vinegar. I use this a lot for cleaning and activities with the kids, so I always get a huge jug.
Food coloring. I’ll go into more detail later on, but for this activity I am partial to the brand I linked.
Measuring spoons and cups plus other kitchen utensils for play time. We saved a paper towel roll and that was a hit!
Food storage containers or resealable plastic bags

Set up

5-10+ minutes. I think the kids liked making the rainbow rice just about as much as they liked playing with it. I would dedicate 5-10 minutes for 1-3 colors, plus drying time, depending on how involved your children want to be in this part.

Pour rice and vinegar into a plastic bag or food storage container using the ratio of 1 cup of rice to 1 tablespoon of vinegar. I tested glass containers for the first time here and had no issues with staining, but I can’t report on plastic containers.
Add a few drops of food coloring, cover or seal, and shake until all the rice is colored evenly.
Let dry. I tested a few different options and here are the results:
- Dry inside- longest dry time, but useable in less than 1-2 hours I would say. I didn’t check at super regular intervals, but this isn’t ready immediately after coloring. Plan for some down time or split up before and after lunch.
- Outside- least aggressive vinegar smell. While it was tolerable, there was a distinct vinegar smell with both the inside and oven drying methods.
- In the oven at 250 degrees F for 10-20 minutes- fastest drying time.
- In the glass container we used to add color- my favorite option for inside, outside, and in the oven.
- In the plastic bag, outside and inside- a little longer dry time compared to the glass container and this obviously cannot go in the oven. A good option if you don’t have or don’t want to use a lot of containers to mix different colors.
- Spread out on a baking sheet- drying time is a touch faster, but not enough to make me want to wash more dishes.
Pour dried rice into your sensory bin, rainbow pattern optional!

Clean up

3-5 minutes

Collect all the rice and put into a bag or other storage container to save for future use. Although you may want to reuse the plastic bag you already have out for coloring the rice, I found ours stayed too wet. I prefer to color in a glass container and save the rice in a jar/container that would otherwise be recycled (think pasta sauce, applesause, yogurt, etc.).
Sweep and vacuum. I am able to clean rice up fairly well in just a few minutes (thanks to our amazing vacuum), but using a fitted bedsheet as a “playpen” of sorts will help contain the mess even more. My older girls still get rice all over the floor at 3 and 5 years old, but I timed the cleanup, and it was pretty quick even without the sheet.

This activity really allows a lot of independence if you are comfortable with an easy to clean mess. For me, rice on the floor is completely different than glitter or moldable play sand. I have to be in just the right mood to bring those things out because I loathe cleaning up those messes. If vinegar spills, we wipe it up. Rice on the floor gets swept or vacuumed.

It has taken me a lot of practice and time to acknowledge out loud to the kids that messes are “not the end of the world”. It is ok to spill and I don’t want them to be so worried about making a mess that they miss out on the activity or don’t even make an attempt at some of the harder things, like pouring. Trying and learning isn’t perfect or neat. I want my children to know that it is ok to make mistakes and that we can fix just about anything, especially while they are this little.

Let’s talk food coloring. I mentioned last week that I was testing out different brands of food coloring and would report back. Here are my thoughts:

Any food coloring will work for any activity. You don’t NEED special food coloring.
We save our sensory bin bases whenever possible, so for me it is worth it to have saturated and bright colors. This may not be the case for everyone.
For throw away activities with food coloring, like the Colorful Fizzy Bin or this Water and Oil Tray, I don’t think higher quality food coloring adds much to the experience. I will stick to less expensive versions for these types of activities.

If you are looking for a wider variety of colors, this brand is fun. Sometimes mixing colors isn’t practical or you are looking for a specific color, so I would pick this pack in those situations. The colors are not as bright, so I prefer to use this for throw away activities.

If you are looking for bright and bold colors, this is my favorite food coloring. I love it for playdough and dyeing sensory bin bases.

Below you can see a side-by-side comparison of the different brands. On the left in each picture is the not as bright food coloring. I used the pink color in each package for easier observation. If you look at the first picture, the colors are not even close to being the same, despite the fact that I had to use about 10 drops of food coloring to even get the palest shade of pink on the left compared to 2-3 drops for the rice on the right.

In the second picture, I added about 5 more drops of a darker pink and then 2-3 drops of red to the rice on the left. The lighting makes it look decent, but in person the quality is not comparable. Using a lot more food coloring and getting a less vibrant end product is not my idea of using my resources wisely. I made the rest of our rice with the higher quality brand.

Hopefully you found my little experiment riveting! Choose for yourself what food coloring you want and go for it- It will be fun no matter what.

Now on to the actual sensory bin! The kids loved looking at the rainbow layout, for about 2 seconds. In the blink of an eye everything was all mixed together, which is honestly the point. The prep part of this took us longer because Brinley and Vaila wanted to make more and more colors. I had to cut them off eventually because we were running out of containers and time, but I think they could have kept making colored rice for quite a while.

I saved an empty paper towel roll and we made a rocket of sorts by filling it with rice and then lifting it away quickly. It left a huge trail of rice that (mostly) stayed in the bin and was super fun for both me and the girls. Ignore the super grainy quality of the picture- I was the rocket lifter and Brinley was in charge of photography for this part. You get the idea.

The cookie scoop was also a fun addition, but be prepared that it will fling rice everywhere. My initial instinct was “Ugh! Keep the rice in the bin!”, but after a I calmed myself down a bit I remembered that rice on the floor was not that big of a deal. I had the capacity and time that particular day to clean it up, so I let it happen. I might not make the same choice if I was trying to prep dinner or unable to supervise a baby around the rice, but it was fun for everyone in the moment.

I love an activity that all of my children can enjoy. At 11 months, 3 years, and 5 years old they have different interests and developmental needs, so not every activity is suitable for all of them. Any parent of two or more children knows the special joy you experience when your children are contentedly playing together. It strikes me suddenly sometimes and I am overwhelmed with gratitude for the privilege of raising these humans.

Parenthood is simultaneously draining and life giving. I hope you are able to fill your own cup today in some way, big or small, so you can continue to pour into your children and home. I know you are doing your best and I think you are doing an awesome job! Remind yourself of that as often as you need to the rest of the week.

Share this post with friend who needs a reminder of how amazing he or she is doing at this parenting gig. I hope you get a chance to try this Rainbow Rice Sensory Bin and memorize the joy on your child’s face if you make a rice rocket!