I can’t believe that St. Patrick’s Day is next week. Wasn’t it just Christmas? Oh, well. Here is a sensory tub we did for St. Patrick’s Day.
We had died some rice over the school break a few months ago and it is still going great. We died 30 pounds of it! We needed to fill our sensory table adequately. 
I got the idea for the rainbow rice from my wonderful friend over at Mumma Made It.
We took some of that rainbow rice (to represent a rainbow, of course), cotton balls for clouds, plastic gold coins, and little black pots cut out of craft foam.
I had Cole pour in the ingredients.
We stirred it around.
And we played, and played, and sorted. By the way these tongs are available as a season item at Dollar Tree stores right now. I grabbed each kid their own and a set for me. We will probably be buying back ups as well. They are just so useful.
I ended up having to make all 3 big kids their own sensory tub. Because the suggestion of putting it all in the able was quickly vetoed. But alas, some rice got thrown (big time no-no) and some kids had to end their experience earlier than others.
This activity is great for sensory play (obviously), motor skills, and you can incorporate other learning aspects into it, as well. Charley and I talked about colors. While Buddy and I talked about opposites like the hard rice and the soft cotton balls.
Are you doing any special activities for St. Patrick’s Day with your kids?
cute! great idea. love the raibow rice!!
ReplyDeleteOk so don't slap me but what is a sensory tub? I love the way the colors look all laid out though.
ReplyDeleteI am glad you asked instead of just wondering. :) A sensory tub (or table) is just a tub/table filled with items that have an array of colors, textures, sounds in them. The idea is to stimulate the senses during play. This gets more of the brain involved. Perfect for young children and children with sensory issues (especially due to special needs). They are playing, but their minds are feeling the different textures, hearing the sounds of rice/noodles/beans being poured or stirred, and seeing color contrasts. It is a great form of play. The best thing is that it just seems like a kid playing with a box of rice. Some of the most simple things are often the most in depth. Thank you again for asking. I am sure there are other people wondering the same thing. ;-)
ReplyDeleteLooks like they had fun. Very creative!
ReplyDeleteRice tables are a lot of fun! I use to do this for my preschool students and I am not quite sure why I haven't done this for my own kids. Great suggestion!
ReplyDeleteLove the sensory bin - I have never dyed rice - how did you do it? Just add food colouring (oh maybe I should click on the other link).
ReplyDeleteI have a bean tub, I can't wait to try dying rice! How fun.
ReplyDeleteOh fun! The dyed rice looks really cool.
ReplyDeleteWhat a creative idea- I am trying to come up with ideas for my kids for St. Patty's Day this week, and the colored rice idea is awesome. Sharing this on my FB page right now...thank you!:)
ReplyDeleteC:)