Green rice, anyone?

Playing with rice is tons of fun!

We have been having some crazy weather in Germany lately.  We have had more rain this year than I remember the previous two years during the summer.  The parks near our house turn into mud pits when it rains because of the sand.  I have been thinking of fun activities to do indoors with Caden and decided to make a sensory box. 

I bought 10 lbs of rice and dyed 9 cups green - so between 4-5 lbs. A few weeks ago we started doing the Hooked on Phonics for Preschoolers, which gives a good review of the alphabet and the phonic sounds.  He has been obsessed with letters since around 17 or 18 months when he started noticing letters on signs when we went out. He still loves our letter games but I wanted to do something more with him. I did some research and decided to buy the Hooked on Phonics for Preschoolers. Although it's pretty basic, at least it has him attempting to write the letters (fine motor skills) and reinforces of the phonic sounds (which will help him learn to read). Since we were on the letter "G," I decided to dye the rice green the day before.  I filled the box with objects that started with "g" or were green.  Caden had a blast digging through the rice and looking at all the objects.  One of his favorite books lately has been Goodnight Gorilla so I brought that out as well. 

The only downside of this activity is that rice will get everywhere, unless your child is older and/or understands better than mine.  I had to remind him several times to keep the rice in the container.  He wanted rice everywhere!  Thankfully he did pretty well except when I left to get my camera upstairs, he put a few handfuls on our couch.  Besides having to stay near him while he played, this was a great activity for him. He even cried when it was time to put it away because he wanted to keep playing with it.  When Dad got home, he asked to play with the green rice again, so we got it out to share with Dad that evening. 

Here are some pictures.

Our "G" and "Green" Sensory Box

He loved pouring the rice into things

When I told him to keep it in the container, he grabbed the led - does this count?

When I left to get my camera someone decided to put 2 handfuls of rice on our couch

To dye rice: Put dry rice in a large bowl, add a few drops of rubbing alcohol, and food coloring, mix and adjust coloring as needed. Dry on wax paper for at least an hour before storing.  You'll need more food coloring than alcohol. I got this idea from Totally Tots.