Coloured Rice

Hopefully this will save you some time and thinking:

Coloured Rice:
Great activity for kids of all ages. Fun, messy and very tactile.

What you will need:
White Rice
Food Colouring (2 bottles per 1kg of rice)
Glue
Sturdy paper or cardboard
Glue brushes (if you would like to keep it cleaner)

Colouring the Rice:
For my activity i needed enough rice for 50 kids. (yikes)
I used 1.5 kgs per colour. (I had 4 different colours; 6 kgs of rice in total)
All that is required is a large container with your rice in it, a spoon and your food colouring.
*2 bottles of food colouring colours 1kg of rice nicely.*
Add the food colouring to the rice and mix.
When the mixing is complete, leave in the container to dry for approx. 15 minutes. Then tip rice onto a large sheet of newspaper. Leave to dry.

Actvities:
Rice Pictures work well with kids older than 5.
They would need to draw a picture with the glue (pref. with fingers for tactile experience) then sprinkle the rice onto the page.

For younger kids, rice collage's work well.
Tips:

• If you have 6 or more children at a table, place the rice in smaller bowls around the table.
• Allow the children to stand for this activity as it allows the more freedom
• Have a "waste" bin on hand so that children can shake their pictures into the waste bin.
• Make certain that everybody involved (including you) is wearing an apron

The kids really loved this activity. They asked their teacher when they could do it again.