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Home | Store | Forum | What's New | Contact | About | Terms | Links | Storytime | Rhymes  Recipes for children's play messy creative activities How to Colour rice in a rainbow of hues delving into a quantity of raw rice is a wonderfully tactile experience that can be used in a nursery school's sensory bin areas, fill and pour activities and as a collage medium for art and craft projects. Being a food it can also be a controversial resource when used for play. This recipe looks at one way rice can be adapted and introduced as an opportunity for children's focussed learning     Rainbow research! enjoy the seven colours of a rainbow and the weather combination that generates them.  Ingredients needed to colour the rice  Long grain white rice  Distilled white vinegar  Gel food colouring - on amazon.co.uk  Container with airtight lid  Tray to dry the rice on, spoons, bowls and cups to play How to colour rice Place 2 desert spoons of vinegar into a tub with 300g of rice and a scoop of gel food colouring. Secure the tub's lid tightly and shake .. Once the desired colour has been achieved remove the rice from the container and spread out on a tray to dry. This can be done in the sun or a warm oven. Once dry, the coloured rice is resistant to water and ought not stain or run. The vinegar acts as a setting agent that prevents the dye from lifting off of the grain's surface, a little like how salt sets and holds dye within fabric. Experiment: see how the coloured rice reacts in a range of situations eg. if frozen, placed in water or  added to playdough. Learning activities The three printables below can be used to teach colours and support matching & sorting activities. Cut out the coloured circles and place in them in dishes or tray with scoops or spoons. rainbow colour sheet - outline rainbow printable - colour name discs Scented rice where wanted add essence or spice to your rice. Strawberry essence with red rice Orange essence with orange coloured rice Lemon with yellow Apple with green Blueberry - blue Lavender with purple Chocolate with brown - check the tempation to taste!  Herb, spice, glitter & flower dough page  Halloween - black & orange rice Yule - green, red and plain Spring - green and yellow Summer - ocean blue or summer flower brights  Colour themed storybooks