Rainbow Rice Sensory Bin

Creating a rainbow rice sensory bin is the coolest!

I’ve seen rainbow sensory bins all over Pinterest and always wondered how to make them and (more importantly) how hard are they to make. Good news friends, they are a snap! I used this awesome recipe from Happy Hooligans to create our rainbow rice sensory bin and it was an absolute smash hit for both my kids.

Sensory bins are amazing for toddlers and preschoolers. They captivate them like no other activity, in my humble opinion. This rainbow rice sensory bin was one for the ages for us (and because it’s a rice bin, it’ll last forever).

How to create a rainbow rice sensory bin:

Materials
(this list contains affiliate links)

• Rice
• Food coloring
• Vinegar
• Various tools to play with (my kids were using these Helping Hands tools)

I followed the directions from Happy Hooligans to a T for this: you can find her recipe here. It’s a simple mixture vinegar, food coloring and rice. I made mine in plastic containers and set them open to dry on my dryer (seemed like the warmest spot to me). They were dry and ready to play with in a few hours. So easy and my toddler loved making it as much as he loved playing with it.

I put the rice in rainbow order into a plastic tub for my kids (2.5 and 14 months) to play with. It was so beautiful in rainbow order and they were captivated by it. Then the real play started. They worked on scooping and grabbing the rice – a great fine motor skills activity.

My 14 month old loved scooping. She would grab a few handfuls and try to get them in the measuring cup and then squeal with glee as she dumped the cup. My son worked to fill jars using his tools and measuring cups.

Not long into playing with this, all the colors were mixed together. And it’s still just as beautiful and captivating as it was when we first started. If I can be honest, all mixed together, it looked like Fruity Pebbles cereal. Made me a little hungry and a little nostalgic.

The kids did great with this bin and it’s still standing a week later. The baby plays with it for about 10 minutes before she starts trying to eat it, but the 2.5 year old will play for up to 45 minutes at a time. We’ve saved the rice in a plastic container for later and I know it will last months for us. I’m happy to put in the little bit of effort to dye the rice knowing that months of happiness that will come out of this bin.

This rainbow rice sensory bin is too cool and I’m so glad I finally bit the bullet and tried it. So easy. I can’t stress how easy this was to put together and incredibly fun for my kids.

Will you try making a rainbow rice sensory bin?