Happy Holidays! We love getting festive in our classroom and I’m not going to lie, the Holiday Season can be very motivating for my students. Working for Holiday toys? Of course! Working for time to play in the Holiday sensory bin is definitely one of our favorite activities. I mean, who wouldn’t want to play in that festively colored rice with all of those fun trinkets inside? Check out our sensory bin and the tips and tricks for making your sensory bin just as fun and festive!
I made some red and green rice by using vinegar and food coloring. I wasn’t so keen on using alcohol since we know everything ends up in our students mouths at some point. I thought vinegar was a good alternative.
Know what was an even better idea? Having the students help make the colored rice! We gathered some containers and filled them about half way full. We added about a tablespoon of vinegar and they chose to add either red or green food coloring. It was a great activity to practice our requesting skills!
Once everything was in the container, we tightly fastened the lid and the students began shaking away. Once they opened the container and were happy with the color of their rice, I had them pour it out onto a table lined with butcher paper to dry. It usually takes a couple hours to dry completely. I often just leave the rice overnight and by the morning it is ready to be added to our sensory bin. It will clump together while it dries, but running your fingers through it will quickly break apart the clumps of colored rice.
Once I added it to the sensory bin, I decided to add some plain rice to fill it up further and threw in some trinkets I found from various Target, Dollar Tree, and Walmart trips. Check out some of theses ideas for trinkets.
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