Sunday, October 3, 2010

Rainbow Rice ~ fun for all ages

When Carrie was little {at the age of 2} we took her to a children's fair sponsored by local pre-schools. There were all sorts of things for the kids to touch and explore, and one of the things she loved was rainbow rice. Afterwards I found the recipe to make this stuff and Carrie and my nephew {Cris} played with it for hours.

{Just look at my sweet baby girl. Where have the past 20 years gone?!?!}

There's nothing to it really - just a tub of colorful rice that can be scooped and poured and handled. Throw in a funnel, some cups and spoons and you'll have some happy toddlers!
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♥ ♥ ♥

I'm planning on using rainbow rice for a project I have in mind, so I made some on a lunch break last week. Since it's something you don't hear of every day, I thought I'd include a tutorial for this easy and fun stuff.

Put 2 cups of white rice (uncooked, of course) into a jar. Add about 20 drops of food coloring (you can add more later if you want it to be a deeper shade).

Add 2 teaspoons of rubbing alcohol (this helps it dry fast - and having the outside temperature still at 106 ° didn't hurt either!).
Shake. Shake. Shake.

Pour wet rice out onto a newspaper and spread out with the back of a spoon.

Repeat with other colors...

Allow to dry before storing in a container of your choice.It took me about 20 minutes to do four colors of rice and when I was done I realized my cheeks hurt from smiling. This brought back some sweet memories and I just couldn't help myself. And the next day when Carrie came over and saw the plastic bag on the counter filled with rainbow rice she smiled a great big grin herself. If you have little ones, you must give this a try!

:o)

16 comments:

debs14 said...

So pretty! Strange the things that spark of happy memories isn't it?
In England, some Indian restaurants have some grains of coloured rice in with the pilau rice and it looks so pretty as a side dish with your main meal. I wonder if this is how they do it? Without the rubbing alcohol of course!!!

traci said...

well how fun is that!!!

Ruth said...

It looks really cool ~ I might just try it out with DS.

scrappyjacky said...

This brought back happy memories,Deb. My kids loved coloured rice....and so did the nursery class kids I used to teach.We didn't use the alcohol stuff though...just food colouring.

Stephanie @ La Dolce Vita said...

I never saw that before! How neat is that! And how cute was your baby girl!!!

Maria Ontiveros said...

I've never heard of this before. Thanks for sharing; it has almost a magical quality to it in its simplicity and beauty!
And the picture of your DD is so sweet.
Rinda

Unknown said...

I love rainbow rice! So glad you made some. :)

Sian said...

This is so cool! I've never seen it before. I'm itching to make some for my nephew but I think I better wait until he's a little bit bigger lol

Becky said...

That is so cool! My kids loved to play with cornflour mixed with water - would keep them occupied for hours! Can't wait to see what project you are going to be using it for.

Rhona said...

This is such a great idea, I can see that little ones would enjoy playing with it. I'll have to remember it for when Alice is a little bigger :) xx

Amy said...

Rainbow rice is in high demand at our playgroup ... sought after by all discerning pre-schoolers! I've been meaning to make some and now that the rain seems to have stopped and the weather is warmer this might be a project for the young lady and I .... speaking of fine young women - how cute is Carrie? Such a little button as a two year old, gorgeous as she is now of course, she was a darling then for sure!

MarleneMAZ said...

Looks like a lot of fun for young kids, thanks for the tutorial :)
I know my boys would have loved it when they were that age.

Shannan Martin said...

I LOVE this idea! Anything to keep the scrappy littles happy...right?? :)

Cate Brickell said...

I used to make this for Chloe, although I dried it out in the oven. Might have another go at making some with the kids tomorrow! thanks for sharing.

Mom said...

Love the rice--I think you brought some to CA on a long-ago visit. And my precious granddaughter--hasn't changed a bit! Beautiful!! xo

humel said...

I've never seen anything like this - it's such fun! I'd love to play with this myself :-)

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