Rainbow rice

This week we made Rainbow Rice! 

(Note this is a make ahead project! You cannot use the rice the same day you make it!)

Our first rainbow rice making experience

I find arts and crafts projects to be difficult at times here. Pinterest is full of amazing ideas, but the supplies, many times, cannot be found here (or can be found but aren't the same and don't offer the same results). So when I come across an activity like this one where I know that all of the ingredients can be purchased less than a mile away from my home, I jump on it!

We haven't done this in a while, but I think it is is one of my favorite things to do with Kesha for the following reasons: 

a) she can get her hands dirty and be involved with the entire "production" process

b) it involves food coloring, which is like painting, which she loves

c) it is quick

d) it's a pretty easy clean up

e) rice is cheap in Ecuador

f) you can keep the rice for quite a while... basically until it gets too dirty to continue playing with

How do you make it?

Ingredientes:

4 cups of white rice

1 teaspoon food coloring of your choice (or mix it up!)

3 tablespoons of rubbing alcohol

Ziplock baggies

Step 1:

Get some rice and divide it in to Ziplock baggies. In this picture we only made 2 cups of rice as 4 is a lot for just one preschooler. We used the snack sized baggies and put 1/4 of the 2 cups in each baggie. It fit perfectly!

Bugsy bagging the rice... she loved to let it run between her fingers.

Step 2:

Add the alcohol to the rice and the food coloring of your choice to the rice in the baggie. Again, we divided everything in quarters so we could make 4 different colors.

Close the baggie well and mix until food coloring/alcohol mixture is evenly disbursed (this involves a variety of techniques including smushing, shaking, and kneading).

Kesh shaking her bag of rice with green food coloring.

Step 3:

Admire your beautiful colors as you lay the bags out to dry in a sunny spot. 

Leave the bags at least over night to dry

Immediately after mixing our colors

Letting our colors dry. I chose to do it on a towel at first in case of leakage,
then moved them to the table when they were a bit drier. 

Step 4:

Clean up!

I like to let Kesh wash the dishes after our projects. She gets dirty during our project process, then cold and wet during the clean up process, then I throw her in the tub. This turns 30 minute rice making project in to at least an hour and a half of art, texture play, water play, clean up time, and bath time fun! Definitely a win win situation! 

After making the rice I even let her use the food coloring in the sink so she can explore how the colors disburse in water. 

Food coloring and water in a container.
This may or may not have also contained the rest of my dish soap... hmmmm.... 

Have fun with this project, and please share links to your rainbow rice photos in the comments section!