A Bag of Rice + Green food coloring = Hours of FUN!!

We are doing a few St. Patrick's Day activities this week and I thought it would be fun to make a sensory tub for J.  I thought K might like it too!  I dyed a large bag of white rice and a box of pasta green.  I added some gold coins, glittery shamrocks, and a couple of leprechans.  J used cookie scoops to dig for gold.  His horses joined him too.  K even had fun moving a few pieces of pasta from a bowl into a cookie scoop.  I had to watch her though because she tried to eat them!
I think we will have sensory tubs at our house for every holiday!

She was eating yogurt while she was playing.  That's the white stuff on her face.

How To Dye Rice and Pasta

What you will need:

Pasta or rice

Liquid food coloring

Rubbing alcohol

Large ziplock bag

Paper Towels

What you do:

Pour pasta or rice into ziplock bag.  Add a couple of teaspoons of alcohol and a few drops of food coloring.  Close the bag and shake until all of the pasta/rice is colored.  If you are having trouble spreading the color around, add another teaspoon of alcohol.  For darker colors, leave the pasta/rice in the bag for a little while.  (I wanted the pasta darker so I left it alone for about 15 minutes.)  Pour the pasta/rice onto a THICK stack of paper towels.  You may want to set these on a cookie sheet so you don't risk staining your countertop!  Spread out and let dry.  Once dry...play away!!!

**By the way, I remember doing this in college so I don't remember the exact amounts of everything.  It doesn't take much alcohol.  Shake a lot before adding more.  There are also recipes all over the internet.   

"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in Heaven."  Matthew 5:16, KJV