POURING : to cause a liquid or granular to stream or flow from a container.
When you read it, it seems very simple, isn’t it ? If you think this will keep them busy only once in their lifetime and for only 5 minutes, you would be wrong.
They are going to spend a good part of their childhood pouring a multitude of things over and over and as incredible as it sounds, they are going to love it ! ( I am not sure about YOU loving it, as you will spend hours cleaning after them …)
For pouring activities I found the perfect material, the best one ever, the Grail : Rainbow rice.
Huh ? What ? Rainbow rice ? Sounds lame no ?
Wrong ! It is great, it is simple, it is cheap enough to make, and above all they love it! I made some at the beginning of the holidays and since then, my kids have been playing with it almost everyday.
So what is it made for ? What is good about this rainbow rice ?
- it is pretty and believe me when I say that beauty is important for a kid. He will be drawn by it straight away.
- it is a great activity to work on their fine motor skills. They can pour rice from a container to another one, use different things to play with it, and so on …
- you can propose this activity to 2 yo children and above. If you have two children of different ages, no problem they can play together.
- when they turn 3-4 yo they can play on their own, no need to help them.
- it is a great way to understand the concept of causes and effects. Depending on the age of your child, you can set up different levels of experimentation.
Recently, my boys mixed the rainbow rice with salt-dough, I found their initiative to be a great idea!
Also, we discovered that we can produce great mandala or picture with it.
Okay I am sold ! What should I do ?
Super easy !
You need:
- Some zip lock bags
- 1 cup of cheap rice
- 1 tablespoon Vinegar
- a few drops of food colouring
- wax paper
Depending on how many colours you want to make, you divide your rice in different bags. Then you mix the vinegar and the food colouring in a glass. When your mixture is ready, pour it into a bag, close the zip, shake and swoosh it to get the coloured vinegar everywhere. Once the rice is well mixed with the colouring, spread it onto wax paper to dry it under the direct sun. You may stir the rice regularly to save time.
You repeat this as much as you need colours.
Admit it, even you want to play with it ! 
