Setup

1. Pour ½- ¾ cup of uncooked rice into a snap look bag.
2. Now add a few drops of food colouring inside the bag
3. Then add about ½ tsp vinegar to the bag too. The vinegar helps to help dry out the rice and food colouring, but it does leave a bit if a residue smell. If you don’t want to use vinegar, replace with cold water, you may just need to wait a little longer for the rice to dry.
4. Now seal the bag and mix the rice around. Give it a shake, squish it in your hands, roll it around. I spent about 5 minutes doing this to make sure the rice was evenly coloured.
5. Once the rice is coloured, tip it into a baking tray or and leave out to dry completely.
6. Repeat the above steps and try another colour. Make as many colours as you want!
7. When you are ready to play pour your rice into a shallow play tray and enjoy the amazing texture!
8. Store in an airtight container in a cool dry place. It will last for quite some time if looked after!   

Variation ideas

• Try using some different textures- try using grains, beans, chickpeas or lentils.
• Using different textures, compare different size, shape, size, and sounds bringing in an early maths and science skills to the experience.
• Make a discovery container. Fill it with coloured rice and then add a variety of items to bury and find. Perhaps you could add metal items and use a magnet to find the magnetic items.