Bring vivid elements of color and texture into your child’s playtime! With just a few simple materials, you can create your very own rainbow-colored rice sensory bottle that is sure to lend hours of enjoyment to your little ones.
Not only will this project be educational in its ability to help kids explore sound, sight, touch, and smell, but also the fun they’ll have shaking up their colorful bottles will teach them about cause-and-effect as it relates to motion.
Many of you know about my obsession with coloring rice. Love the colors, love the texture, love the sensory experience for my boys. We love making sensory tubs and sensory bottles.
What I don’t love, however, is rice everywhere in our home including the bottom of our feet. I work really, really hard to let go of control and embrace the mess but this mantra is one I must repeat not daily but hourly.
Read on for all the steps necessary to make a vibrant rainbow-colored rice sensory bottle guaranteed to delight both children and adults alike!
Let’s be honest the mess is nothing a vacuum cleaner can’t clean up. So, deep breath, and embrace the mess. Your child will benefit, especially if you can get him to help pick up the mess. That is certainly a goal in our home.
Rice Sensory Bottle
My recent rice coloring experience involved in creating beautiful and vibrant orange rice. I didn’t use vinegar, by the way, and used food coloring GEL instead of the liquid.
This approach worked really, really well. I colored the rice to begin an October sensory bin. I was so excited, however, that I left the rice in a tub along with some insect critters, tongs, and cups for my boys to feel the joy.
As I watched my two-year-old feel, pour and…ah-hem…throw rice, I was torn. I miss the summer already where messes stay, for the most part, outside. My son sat in the tub, he put his sticky bare feet in the tub and squealed, “Mama, I’m feeling on my feet!”
How could I take this experience away from him? Well, I won’t take it away from him but in order to have a bit of rest for mama, we can alter, or shall we say “contain”, the experience a bit.
How to Make a Rice Sensory Bottle
I went searching in my pantry for a container. Voila! I found a lemonade pitcher with a cap that was the perfect size. I poured in the beautiful rice, added a few critters, and played with the pitcher myself. I watched the rice pouring up and down the sides of the pitcher and the critters disappear and appear again.
Jackpot.
Halloween Rice Sensory Bottle
I am not advocating taking away sensory bins filled with rice but if you need a break try a “rice bottle” instead of an open bin. The break will go a long way for you and your little ones.
Interested in purchasing a rice bottle?
Thanks for reading,
Marnie