Dying Rice/Pasta for Sensory Play or Art Projects

Dying pasta or rice is fast, simple, inexpensive, and the results are really fun!

What you'll need:

Uncooked pasta or rice

Rubbing alcohol

Resealable baggie or bowl and spoon

Food coloring

Wax paper or paper towels 

Add a couple tablespoons of rubbing alcohol and several drops of food coloring to pasta or rice. If using a bowl, mix with a spoon until colored. If using a baggie as I did, simply shake. Include your child, using something to protect their clothing, if possible! Lay plenty of paper towels or wax paper on a flat surface and spread out the rice or pasta to dry. Mine was dry in about half an hour with use of an overhead fan.

Somehow this reminded me of salt maps we made in sixth grade...

Lovely pastel shades just in time for Easter! If you'd like your colors to be darker, using more food coloring (and perhaps more rubbing alcohol) should do the trick. I used about 15 drops of color for each.

Instant attraction. He ran across the room to check out the bin and went right to work.

We used a funnel to assist with getting the rice into a small bottle.

Tyler especially enjoyed scooping and filling other containers with plastic Easter eggs!

Colored rice or pasta could be used in simple art projects for toddlers as well. Simply gluing pasta to cardboard or shaking rice onto glue by putting the rice into something like a parmesan cheese container are just two simple yet fun ways for toddlers to create.