I had this great idea last week – that I would set up some wonderful small world play using rainbow rice as the basics for the landscape. It looked really beautiful when I set it up with a pond, a little land area, I added a duck for the pond and some plants and a tortoise for the land….
However, J had very different ideas for what this should be.
Instead he removed the small world creatures and turned it into a sensory tub. First he loved the colours as he swirled them around the tub they started to mix together. He also asked if I could add Red rice to it as initially it only had blue and green in.
He loved the feel of the rice – yes he tasted it but as I only use food colouring and nothing else this wasn’t a problem.
Once he had explored the colours and textures of the rice he explored sounds on his own. There has been a lot of rain recently and the sound of the rice falling on the plastic bottom of the box was just like it against our window panes.
This was the first time we had used rainbow rice… and I will be trying it again hopefully I will get a small world play out of it at some point as well.
Cerys Parker
Cerys is a marine biologist, environmental educator, high school teacher and mum. Realising that life doesn't have to be put on hold and you don't just have to survive whilst the kids are young she shares ideas to inspire you to LIVE with the kids, with activities to do together, recipes to cook and enjoy and family travel to make memories to last a lifetime.
does the food coloring come off on hands?
Love rice play, really simple idea but you can do so much with it!
I can really understand why a child would just want to mess it up & run their hands through it. I would too. I love rice play.
Oh, that pond looked so pretty and inviting, Cerys! Oh well, they always have their own ideas, don’t they, and that really is what it’s all about! I love the way you set it up for him though.
Haha, they don’t always have the same idea as us, do they? I love BOTH these activities that you’ve shared. That small world was adorable and I think my daughter *may* be at an age to play with it like that for a little bit before doing just what your son did. haha Who know’s though 🙂 lol. Thanks for this colourful post.