How to dye rice with natural food coloring
This has been one of the rainiest springs of all times here in Athens. I mean we were indoors a lot of the time and I needed to find creative ways to have fun with my toddler. One of our favourite activities is playing with rice.
ΔΙΑΒΑΣΤΕ ΤΟ ΑΡΘΡΟ ΣΤΑ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΑ ΕΔΩ
This is a very nice sensory play activity, most kids love, and mine is no exemption. At first, she liked the plain white rice but later on I decided to create an optical stimuli too and wanted to dye it.
I hate artificial food coloring. This stuff has never found its way in our home and, if I can help it, it never will. There are so many natural alternatives; I don’t see a reason to buy the artificial one. It just takes some time to make, that’s all.
This time I made three colors: Green, red and yellow.
How to dye rice with natural food coloring
Natural edible green coloring
10 spinach leaves
3-4 tablespoons of water
Blend them to create a pulp. Pass the pulp through a sieve and store the liquid in a glass jar in the fridge.
Natural edible yellow coloring
One table spoon turmeric powder
2-3 tablespoons of water
Mix well and store the liquid in a glass jar in the fridge.
Natural edible red coloring
One table spoon beetroot powder (or a large boiled beetroot)
2-3 tablespoons of water
Mix well and store the liquid in a glass jar in the fridge.
If you don’t have the powder, then use the boiled beetroot and blend it into a pulp. Pass the pulp through a sieve and store the liquid in a glass jar in the fridge.
How to dye rice with natural food coloring
In order to dye the rice you will need a plastic container with a lid. Put your white rice in the container and then put one teaspoon of your natural coloring and one teaspoon of white vinegar. Close the lid and shake vigorously. Open the lid and use some more coloring depending on the hue you want to achieve.
Put the dyed rice in a shallow plate and leave it in the sun for one hour.
When it’s completely dry it’s ready to use. You can store it in a plastic container.
Rice sensory play ideas
There are many fun games you can play with your kid that involve rice.
- Give them a large container with rice and a lot smaller ones. Give them tools to scoop the rice from one container to the other. Spoons, sieves, tongs paper glasses, all can become a tool.
- Hide some small treasures in the rice and ask them to find them
- Hide letters in the rice and ask them to find them and create words with them
- Hide small animals in the rice ask your kids to “save” them.
After one month of everyday use, the red and yellow rice remain like they were the first day. However the green rice faded a lot after the second week of use.
