I am kinda of obsessed with making sensory boxes. My mind has been spinning all weekend with all the different boxes I can make. These are the reasons:
1. The little people love them
2. I enjoy making the little people happy.
3. My classroom is quiet when they are playing with them.
4. Hubby and I get to go hunting for different things to put in the boxes - which always
includes lunch together after.
This is how I dye my rice for my containers. There are a lot of different ways, but this is what works for me.
Gather all your supplies.
You will need a measuring cup, measuring spoons, a gallon ziploc bag, food color paste, rubbing alcohol, bowl, 2 - 5 lb bags of white rice (cheap is good), paper towels and cookie sheets or baking pans (for drying).
Take the ziploc bag and put it inside a big bowl. A 5 pound bag has about 10 cups - so I just pull out 2 cups and set aside (I will use this later). Then, I add the rest of the rice bag, about 8 cups, to the ziploc bag.
**Do not put all 5 pounds of rice in the gallon ziploc bag. It fits, but you can't mix it. I tried, lol. You could use a bigger bag, but I didn't want to go to the store.
To the rice, I add 3 Tablespoons of rubbing alcohol and 30 drops of food coloring liquid paste (this will give it a nice rich color). You can always add more if you want the rice to be darker.
Close the bag and smoosh it all around- turn the bag.
When you get it all mixed together - leave it sit for about 10 minutes, so the color soaks in a little.
Lay paper towels in your drying container and dump the rice in. I use about 4 to 5 containers for all the rice. You don't want the rice layer to be to thick. It will dry faster. The weather in California has been so nice, so I set mine outside for a couple of hours to dry. You can dry them overnight inside too.
Repeat, all the steps again for the other 5 pound bag.
My big container fits 2 batches nicely. It is enough to cover the bottom, but not too much that it escapes from the box, when the babes are playing with it.
To dye the other 4 cups of rice, I added 1 Tablespoon of rubbing alcohol and 12 drops of color. I am going to use this smaller batch in a smaller container and make it a color box. So, I would add all sorts of blue things that I can find around the house, at school or from new purchases. I want to make it an "I Spy Color Box".
Hubby and I went shopping at the Dollar Tree today for goodies. I think he had as much fun as I did. There are about 5 different box ideas in this picture. Of course, we had lunch after. I love 3 day weekends.