Colored Dried Rice (or Pasta) Recipe

Mommy Nature's Preschool Blog

You and your child can decorate pictures and cardboard picture frames or simply have fun playing in the bucket of colored rice you make!  This is not an exact science, so anyone can make it!

Pour as much dried white rice (or dried pasta) into a plastic zipper bag. (I even use empty, shaken-out bread bags and just tie a knot in the top before shaking.)  Add several drops of food coloring (your choice) and about a teaspoon of rubbing alcohol (which helps the color dry faster).  Close the bag and shake until the color is dispersed throughout.  If it needs to be darker, simply add more color and alcohol.  Lay the rice out on a cookie sheet or some newspaper to dry (usually about 30 minutes to an hour).

Additional Ideas:

*Mix several colors of rice together.

*Pour the rice into a tub and add plastic spoons, funnels and small (clean) scoops from detergent containers to help your child learn spatial relationships as he/she plays.  Either play with this outside or lay a sheet under the tub to catch “strays”.

*Make a design (a shape, letter, your child’s name, etc.) on a piece of paper with glue and let your child cover it with the rice.

*Using precut mats from the craft store, let your child decorate it with the rice for a colorful frame.  Insert his/her picture and it becomes an instant gift!

*If using different pastas, practice creating simple patterns with your child (ex. elbow pasta, penne pasta, elbow, penne, etc. or red pasta, red pasta, blue pasta, red, red, blue, etc.).  Can your child figure out what to glue next?

*Penne, or other straight, hollow pastas, are great for stringing necklaces.

Playing on an old sheet makes clean up a breeze. 
Pick up the corners, shake the rice to the center and dump into the bucket!

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