Rainbow fun

This month my mom's group is focusing on colors. I decided to take an idea I saw on Pinterest and turn it in to a playdate. Next week we are going to be playing with rainbow colored rice. To keep the fun going I'm going to put fun little items inside so the kids can explore and dig through the rice much like they would sand.

This means lots of rice dyeing for me though! It turned out to be very simple and fun. While Nolan napped, I filled my oven with this!

It's quite easy to do. Just take 2-3T of rubbing alcohol and a few drops of food coloring. Add that to a ziploc bag with 4-5 cups of dry rice and shake until coated. Place onto cookie sheets and set in the sun or a really low over (~175 degrees). If using the oven, you might want to keep the door slightly ajar. As the alcohol evaporates the fumes are quite strong. It dries quickly with the rubbing alcohol which also sets the dye. Other recipes called for vinegar instead or the alcohol but although the alcohol smells while you're making the rice it evaporates quickly and is odorless. I think the vinegar might take quite a bit longer to dry! Next time though I'll wait for a sunny day and dry the rice outdoors.

I let Nolan explore the rice for a bit before packing it up for next week!!

Don't mind the dirty face! We were finishing up Black bean hummus snack time.