Colored Rice Play

We have been having a very fun time. I keep meaning to make a new schedule for my family but I am a big procrastinator so we are still playing it by ear which lead us to colored rice play. So I had been seeing it all over Pinterest and seeing how we now have no structure to our days it was a perfect way to keep Baby J busy while I did some house work. 

I started making the colored rice the night before and what that really means is that I set out the baggies for the rice to be colored in out on the counter for me to work with later on. Yeah that didn't work out to well so I got it done in the morning. I started after I got the big girls on their school buses and had my cup of Tea...lol

(insider joke) I grab the baggies of the counter and pour two cups of rice in each bag along with food coloring and alcohol, close them up and proceed to mixa, mixa, mixa (this is a real word if you don't believe me then have a talk with my 3 year old). All of a sudden Baby G wakes up and I have to go do my morning routine with her. The kid is up earlier than usual so I'm not fully functional at that moment which leads to me banging the kids head trying to walk out the door (don't judge me). Once I get her settled down from all the unnecessary crying that she is doing I toss the kids a bag and let her help along with the mixa, mixa, mixa part. She really enjoyed tossing, squishing and hitting the baggies. Baby J has waken and decides that she can't let us have all the fun and we start a game of bag toss and this project just took a whole new turn.

The game of bag toss was a great game and it helped in the mixa, mixa, mixa process and now its time to dry the rice out. I was supposed to be doing this project by myself the night before but that did not work out and I was cool with that cause it led to a game and a whole lot of questions. It also led to Baby J wanting to play with the pretty colored rice that she helped make which left me with how do I quick dry this stuff. chime in Baby J with "Mommy time to cook the rice?" Ahh, Yup it's time to cook this rice so I placed it in the over and set it to 300 degrees and nope I did not wait for it to preheat. I let it dry for about 10-20 min. I checked the rice after 5 minutes. 

Baby J and Baby G watched the rice in the oven the whole time. Baby J was so happy to see something that she had a hand in. I think Baby G just likes to stand and bang on my oven.When we pulled out the rice the smell of the alcohol had gone and all you seen was the beautiful colors. I had no idea that the rice would be so pretty. I help but to look at it and touch it while it fell through my fingers. Yes I played with the rice also but I played with it while it was hot out of the oven and I just wanted to feel it.Baby G watched mommy as she played and touched and she wanted to play also so I pulled out a little bit and let her touch it while it was warm and she liked it. She would not leave unless I gave her some of that beautifully colored rice to play with. So I made an Ispy jar for her that would keep her interested. She mostly just shook it but then later after Baby J started to pointing out all the objects in the jar she became really interested in the little jar. She started to shaking it and then would stop and really look at it. 

Once it had cooled down and I had put Baby G down for her nap I placed it in a large Pyrex dish and left it along with two spoons and two bowels for Baby J to play with it when she felt like it. It took her no time before she was all into it. She was picking it up and letting it fall from her hands, rubbing it between her palms and trying to see if the color would come off. After she was done with all the touchy stuff she used one of the spoons and mixed it all up and continuously called me to come and watch her enjoy her play time. (I enjoyed watching) eventually she got around to using the other spoon to transfer the rice from the dish to one of the bowels. Baby J and Baby G had a great time with the colored rice. I put it away in a container and high out of reach and sight so that that can only be brought out by request or when I have a great activity in store that it could be used for. Yup I limit the mess in my home.