Create this easy and fun Hot Chocolate Rice Sensory Bin for this holiday season with coloured rice! So fun and simple to create! Let your child pretend to make hot cocoa for you, their siblings or all their stuffed animals! All my kids had a blast with this fun sensory bin and I’m sure yours will love it too!
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How to Make Brown Coloured Rice
Supplies for Colored Rice
(This post and list contains affiliate links for your convenience. If you make a purchase using one of these links, I may earn a commission. Please visit my disclosure policy for more information)
- 1 Cup of White Rice
- 1/2 tsp White Vinegar
- Several Drops of Brown Gel Food Coloring
- Large Ziploc Bags
- Parchment Paper
- Baking Sheets or Tupperware containers
How to Make Colored Rice
- Combine the rice, white vinegar and food coloring in a Ziploc bag.
- Seal it carefully and mix the contents throughly.
- Repeat for each color.
- Lay a sheet of parchment paper on a baking sheet or line a Tupperware container.
- Spread the colored rice out on the parchment paper and allow it to dry overnight.
How to Make Colored Rice: Troubleshooting
If you don’t have gel food coloring, regular food coloring will work fine. If you want your rice to be more vibrant add more than just a few drops of food coloring and a small amount of white vinegar. Although the instructions calls for 1 cup of rice I usually make between 6-7 cups of rice for a sensory bin.
How to Make a Hot Chocolate Rice Sensory Bin
- Add the brown rice to the sensory bin.
- Add white pom poms, cotton balls and/or foam balls.
- Add paper cups, tongs, scoopers and spoons.
- Add candy canes (if you have them).
- Add red pom poms and jingle bells.
- Add snowflakes.
- Invite your little one to play and enjoy!
Age Suitability
This activity is good for toddlers, preschoolers, kindergarten aged children 2 years old and up. My kids are 4.5, 4.5 and 8 years old.
Mess Level
The mess level for this activity is low.
Difficulty to Create
Easy.
Skills Developed
Gross motor skills, language development, number recognition, color recognition, hand-eye coordination, fine motor skills, imaginative play, creativity.
Materials
(This post and list contains affiliate links for your convenience. If you make a purchase using one of these links, I may earn a commission. Please visit my disclosure policy for more information.)
- Sensory Bin or Sensory Table
- Brown coloured rice
- White and red pom poms
- Cotton balls
- Foam balls
- Paper cups
- Tongs
- Scoopers
- Spoons
- Snowflakes
Books, TV Show & Play Kits!
Book: Exciting Sensory Bins for Curious Kids
Did you know I wrote a book of sensory bins? Click here for more information Exciting Sensory Bin for Curious Kids. Or grab your copy at Amazon.
Boring afternoons are made exciting with awesome animal-based bins, like Salty Shark Bay or Yarn Farm. Pretend play bins like Birthday Cake Sensory Play or Bubble Tea Party encourage creativity and imagination. And your kids will have so much fun they won’t even know they’re getting smarter with STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and math) activities like Sink or Float Soup, Magnetic Letter Hunt or Ice Cream Scoop and Count.
Designed for toddlers 18 months and up.
Book: Super STEAM Activity Book for Kids
Learning all about science, technology, engineering, art, and math sets kids up for scholastic success―and it can be so much fun! Watch kids enjoy building STEAM skills as they color friendly fish, help water find its way to tree roots, solve math problems with mazes, and more.
Find out more and grab your copy here.
Designed for preschoolers 3 years old and up.
Book: Big Book of Riddles for Kids
Riddle me this: What’s an exciting way to practice critical thinking while having a blast? The Big Riddle Book for Kids, of course! From hilarious puns to tough brain teasers, kids can build problem-solving d with hundreds of riddles that show them how to think outside the box.
- 350 riddles for kids—Have hours of fun with riddles, puns and jokes, and math and logic puzzles that’ll get their wheels turning!
- Level up their skills—Riddles get trickier as kids progress through the book, challenging them as they get better at solving puzzles!
- Double-check their work—Kids can check their answers in the back of the book with a handy answer key.
Help children expand their minds while having fun with this puzzle book for kids!
Designed for kids ages 6 years old and up.
TV Show: Curious Crafting
I’m so excited to finally share my new crafting TV show Curious Crafting which launched July 1 at on TVOkids and TVOkids YouTube!
Set in the ultimate crafting space, Curious Crafting is a short form pre-school age series about the joy of making crafts. I lead a rotating cast of adorable little preschoolers (including my own) making magic out of common household objects.
In each episode we transform recycled items into magical crafts like a milk carton school bus, paper bag puppet or cotton pad turtle. The crafters learn and laugh their way through each activity while demonstrating what their young imaginations can create.
Curious Crafting shares the adventure and joy of making art with takeaway lessons for creating crafts at home.
This show designed for toddlers and preschoolers 2.5 years old and up.
Designed for preschoolers 3 years old and up.
WILL YOU MAKE THIS HOT CHOCOLATE RICE SENSORY BIN WITH YOUR KIDS? PIN IT FOR LATER!
