Rice Play with Baby: 13 Developmental Sensory Activities

Playing with rice is an excellent way for children to develop their fine and gross motor skills as well as stimulating their senses, and is a fantastic resource to use for sensory play activities. A variety of items can be added to your rice trays and sensory activities to increase the sensory benefits and fun. Adding other items to your rice play can also stimulate different areas of development for your baby.

What is sensory play?

Sensory play is any play activity that involves and stimulates any of the 5 senses (sight, smell, touch, taste, and hearing). Sensory play is an important early step to helping in your baby’s development. Sensory activities can be noisy, messy, fun, engaging, colorful, and use multiple textured items. Children should use their senses to create new things, investigate, learn, and explore the items they are given, and to play.

Aside from the 5 main senses, there are 3 other important senses that are also benefited from sensory play. These 3 senses are not discussed much, so they are not as well known. They are the vestibular, proprioceptive, and interoception sensory systems.

The vestibular system is the body’s balance center. This system is responsible for the body’s movement (such as speed – acceleration and deceleration), balance, and for the body’s movement in space.

The proprioceptive system is responsible for giving the body information about its position in space, and for the sensations, we feel in the joints and muscles.

The interoception system is another sensory system. It is responsible for helping us to assess and manage the body’s internal feelings and emotions.

Benefits of rice play

Playing with rice is excellent for helping to develop baby’s senses, hand-eye coordination, improving language and communication skills, and developing fine and gross motor skills. Rice play can also help to build confidence and creativity in your little one as well as improve their sense of self-esteem and have positive effects on their emotional wellbeing.

As long as safety and supervision guidelines are followed, rice play can be a fantastic and fun tool to use for sensory play activities with your little one.

Age and safety guidelines to follow for rice play

It is recommended not to use dry rice with a baby until after the age of 1 and with very vigilant supervision to ensure they do not try to eat the rice if avoidable. Rice play for babies 6 months to 1 year, use cooked and dried rice to reduce the hazard of choking on the rice if eaten or put in the mouth.

Remember these safety rules for rice play:

• Ensure rice is cooked for children 6 months – 1 year
• Cooked rice can also be used for older babies and toddlers for safer rice play
• Dry, uncooked rice not to be used for babies under the age of 1 year.
• Ensure items used for rice play do not pose a choking hazard.
• Ensure baby doesn’t eat the rice (if dry, or colored) – this shouldn’t cause much harm but isn’t the best thing for them either.
• Always supervise the activity and never leave your baby alone with rice play.

Rice Substitutes for Sensory Play

A good rice substitute that can be used is Quinoa or risotto, which has a similar texture to rice when raw or cooked. Lentils, Farro, barley, sorghum, and oats are also suitable substitutes for rice play with similar sensory benefits.

Here are 13 Developmental Sensory Activities for Rice play with Baby:

Coloring rice

Coloring rice is something that can be done by parents, but by doing it with your little ones, you are helping them to develop other skills such as creativity and expression. This activity will also help your little one to understand the process of coloring the rice and teach them the skills they need to do it themselves as they get older with less supervision.

Materials:

• 1 cup of Rice
• 1 teaspoon of Vinegar
• 1/8 teaspoon of Food Coloring (you can add more if you want a more vibrant color)
• Large Ziploc bags (the stronger freezer ones work best)

How to:

• Put all the ingredients (rice, vinegar, and food coloring) into a Ziploc bag
• Seal the Ziploc bag making sure it is entirely sealed so no rice or color can get out.
• Give your little one the bag of rice and food coloring and let them ‘color’ the rice by shaking, squeezing, and moving the rice around the bag until the color is completely covering the rice.
• You can add more food coloring a little at a time until the rice has reached the color you want.
• Once the rice is completely colored, place paper towel (or a towel) on a baking tray and empty the rice onto the paper towel
• (using gloves or hand in a plastic) Spread the rice out onto the tray to help it dry faster.
• Leave the rice overnight to dry completely prevent the color spreading.
• Now your rice is colored and ready for other rice play activities.

Note: Paint can also be used to color rice but does not last as long and will peel and eventually come off.

To make multiple colors, mix different colors in other bags, or you can double the recipe for a larger quantity of rice of a single color.

Areas of Development:

• Introduction to Math concepts: colors (introduce and identify), quantity, color mixing
• Fine motor and gross motor skills
• Cognitive development
• Strengthening hand muscles
• Patience
• Creativity, art and design development

Squish and Squash – Messy Play fun

A fun and messy activity that my boys really enjoyed when they were between 6 and 12 months was squish and squash. This is an activity that uses cooked rice, so it is suitable for ages 6 months and above.

Materials:

• Color rich vegetables (for natural food dye) or food coloring
• Water
• 1 cup white rice
• Pot to boil rice

How to:

• To make natural food dyes from vegetables (carrots, purple cabbage, and other color-rich vegetables): boil any in water. Save the watercolor your
• Make rainbow rice: use the colored water from the boiled vegetables (or food coloring in water) to cook your rice. Once the rice is cooked, it should have the color of the water.
• Once cooked, empty the rice onto a baking tray, separate it as much as possible (to prevent sticking), and allow it to cool and dry a little.
• Put baby in a high chair with rice on their table or put the rice into a plastic try and let your baby explore the rice by squishing it, squeezing it, squashing it, and even tasting it.
• You can add flavoring essence to the water while cooking the rice to add smell to the senses that are stimulated during this activity.

Areas of Development:

• Senses
• Strengthening hand muscles
• Fine motor and gross motor skills
• Cognitive development
• Hand-eye coordination

Rice shakers and Rain Makers– Noisy Music session

Rice shakers are a fun and creative way to make music and teach your little ones about recycling. Rainmakers are one of my boys’ favorite things to do with rice as they can create multiple different sounds depending on how you make them. They are fun and easy sensory activities and are a lot of fun for the little ones.

Materials:

• Rice
• Small empty water bottle
• Empty toilet roll, Kitchen roll, or center of tinfoil/plastic wrap (PVC pipe or anything similar will work too)
• Masking tape or tape
• Paper, Newspaper, Cellophane or plastic wrap (each one will  create  a different sound)
• Paint, colors, markers or crayons (optional – for decorating)

How to:

• Use paper, newspaper, cellophane or plastic wrap) to cover 1 side of an empty tissue roll tube or kitchen roll tube or anything similar. Seal it using the tape or masking tape.
• Using a spoon or cup pour some rice into the tube (the amount of rice you add will affect the sound)
• To make Rainmakers, crumple up some newspaper and put it loosely inside the tube before adding the rice.
• Cover the other end of the tube and seal it up with tape.
• The shakers will make a loud maraca type sound when shaken.
• Because of the newspaper inside the rainmaker tubes, the rice will fall slowly through the gaps in the paper inside the tube, making a sound similar to rain falling. (the amount of newspaper and rice  you use will all affect the sound you hear – experiment with different amounts)
• You can also try putting crumpled up cellophane inside the rainmaker tubes for a different sound.
• You can let your little ones use markers, paint, crayons, stickers, and other items to decorate their shakers and rainmakers.

Areas of Development:

• Senses
• Fine motor and gross motor skills
• Cognitive development
• Hand-eye coordination
• Introduction to math – opposites, in and out, big, small, empty, full,
• Communication and language development
• Art and design, music

Color mixing – Rice and Ice

Color mixing alone can be fun and exciting for little ones, add ice into the mixing process, and you have an even more creative and extrasensory activity.

Materials:

• Water
• Jug for mixing colored water
• Food coloring (2 colors that can mix to create a new color – see notes for options)
• Ice-trays
• Plain White Rice
• Trays for rice play

How to:

• Pour water in a jug or bowl and add food coloring until the water is your desired color.
• Pour the colored water into an ice tray and place in the freezer for a few hours or overnight until completely frozen.
• Repeat above steps for a second color (if you only have 1 ice tray, you can fill half with 1 color and a half with the other color.
• In a tray pour in some plain white, uncooked rice.
• Name the colors of the ice you are using (for the rest of the instructions we will use blue and red as our example)
• On one side of the tray place the blue ice and on the other side of the tray place the red ice.
• Move the ice around the tray until it starts melting (this is a great outdoor activity for summer).
• When the ice starts to melt, the rice will begin to change color, and when the colors start mixing, it will turn the rice purple.
• Talk about rhyming words ice and rice, talk about the ice melting and changing from solid to water, ask children questions about the texture and temperature of the ice and rice.
• Have fun, and enjoy playing with the color mixing ice and rice.
• Once done, rice can be dried and used for dry rice play, sensory bags, or sensory bottles.

Areas of Development:

• Senses
• Fine motor and gross motor skills
• Cognitive development
• Hand-eye coordination
• Introduction to Math – color mixing
• Introduction to science – observation, prediction, comparing, gathering information, reasoning, experimenting, evaluating, hot and cold, properties of water (solid-liquid), and absorption.
• Communication and Language development – Rhyming words, description, expression
• Art and design, creativity
• Real-life connections and experience

Notes: Some color mixing options:

• Red + Blue = Purple
• Blue + Yellow = Green
• Red + Yellow = Orange
• Purple + Yellow = Brown

Full and Empty Rice Play

Little ones enjoy filling up and emptying out containers. Make it extrasensory by adding a sensory resource like rice.

Materials:

• Rice or Rainbow Rice
• kitchen utensils – spoons, cups, plates, bowls

How to:

• fill a tray or bin with rice and give your little one kitchen utensils as tools to use for play
• Show them how to scoop, dig, and manipulate the rice
• Allow them to fill and empty bowls, cups, bottles, and other containers with rice
• They can experiment with sound by shaking bottles they have filled with rice
• Experiment with quantity by filling and emptying containers.
• Fine and gross motor skills are developed by scooping, pouring, shaking, mixing, filling and emptying rice in and out of containers.

Areas of Development:

• Senses
• Fine motor and gross motor skills
• Cognitive development
• Hand-eye coordination
• Introduction to math – full, empty, more, less, measurement
• Communication and language development – expanding vocabulary
• Art and design, creativity

Sensory bags and Rice Trays

Develop your baby’s finger dexterity and fine motor skills with this super simple sensory rice activity. As your little explorer grows with rice play and learns to experiment with rice, start using rice play to develop their fine motor skills, writing, drawing, and creativity.

Materials:

• Rice or Rainbow Rice
• Large Ziploc bags or a tray large enough for rice play
• Duct tape or masking tape (for sensory bags)
• Other items for extra sensory play (optional)

How to:

• Sensory bags
  • Fill ziplock bags with about 1 cup of rice of your desired color
  • You can add other items for search and find games (this is optional)
  • Seal the Ziploc bag and use duct tape or masking tape to seal the edges of Ziploc bag
• Sensory trays
  • Fill a tray with your desired amount of rice in your desired color
  • You can add other items for search and find games (this is optional)
• In plain rice trays/bags, show children how to use their fingers to write and draw in the rice
• Play searching games by adding other items to the rice.

Areas of Development:

• Senses
• Fine motor and gross motor skills
• Cognitive development
• Hand-eye coordination
• Communication and language development
• Art and design, creativity

Note: Sensory bags can be used for children from 4 months with extra supervision to ensure the bag does not break, and rice does not fall out.

Rice Treasure Hunt

My boys love digging in the rice to search for “buried treasure” this activity can be edible by making the “treasures” treats for extrasensory or can just be a fun activity using your baby’s favorite toys.

Materials:

• Rice or rainbow rice
• Easy to grasp toys
• For Edible treasure hunt – fruit treats, candies or any of your little one’s favorite treats

How to:

• Fill a tray or bucket with your desired amount of rice in the color of your choice (the deeper the container, the more fun the treasure hunt.
• Add in some toys or edible goodies for the treasure hunt.
• Have a checklist or picture list of all the items you have added into the rice for the treasure hunt, so children will know when the hunt is done.
• For babies, use a lower tray and visible toys (still slightly buried but visible enough to find easily)
• Discuss the activity, colors, shapes, and sounds to help build language development ( do this with babies too to help promote speech and language development as well as communication.

Areas of Development:

• Senses
• Fine motor and gross motor skills
• Cognitive development
• Hand-eye coordination
• Communication and language development
• Art and design, creativity, curiosity
• Visual tracking skills

Rice sensory balloons

Help to develop your baby’s fine motor skills with this fun rice activity.

Materials:

• Plain dry rice
• Funnel
• Balloons (strong, good quality balloons are best to prevent breakage)
• Marker to decorate the balloon (optional)

How to:

• Use a funnel to fill a balloon with rice (little ones can help with this step).
• Tie the balloon and decorate the balloon if you want, using thick permanent markers
• Let little ones squeeze, roll, and manipulate the rice-filled balloons to help stimulate muscles and fine motor skills

Areas of Development:

• Senses
• Fine motor and gross motor skills, Pincer grasp
• Hand-eye coordination
• Muscle development and strengthening
• Art and design, creativity

Multi-texture Sensory Bins with Rice

Add extra things to your rice trays to make them that much more fun and sensory for your little one.

Materials:

• Rice (white or colored) – as much as you like
• Items to add sensory – pompoms, ribbons, acorns, pine cones, toys, blocks, foam pieces, etc.
• Tray to use for rice play activity

How to:

• Fill a tray with rice (color and amount of your choice)
• Add in items of your choice – this will depend on which texture you want to add (ex: soft – pompoms, ribbon, foam shapes. Rough – pinecones, sand. Smooth – acorns, blocks.)
• Let your little ones explore and play with the rice and other items. They will explore and experiment with the items, experimenting with all the textures stimulating their sense of touch.
• You can add items that make a sound (ex: bells) to stimulate their sense of sound along with their sense of touch and sight.

Areas of Development:

• Senses
• Fine motor and gross motor skills
• Cognitive development
• Hand-eye coordination
• Communication and language development
• Art and design, creativity

Festive Holiday Rice Sensory Bin

Variety is the spice of life, at least that is what we believe, so spice up rice play for your baby by making it extra festive during the holidays or even to help them learn about the different seasons.

Materials (will depend on the holiday/season):

• Rice (colored rice to match the season or holiday)
• Easter: Empty Plastic Easter eggs
• Xmas – red and green items, candy canes, pipe cleaners, tinsel, Christmas tree ornaments, etc
• Halloween – Orange and black items, toy spiders and bats, other items that represent Halloween
• Spring – flowers, vibrant colored ribbons, and pipe cleaners
• Summer – summer color items (ex: pipe cleaners, ribbons), shells, beach sand, beach toys
• Fall – leaves (multiple colors), fall-colored items
• Winter – ice, snow, flour (to represent snow), parts of a snowman, etc.
• Tray or bucket for rice play

How to:

• Fill a tray with rice and the items to represent your desired holiday or season.
• Discuss the holiday/season you are representing in the rice play.
• Talk about the colors and items that represent each specific holiday/season.
• Toys (such as empty plastic Easter eggs) that can be filled with rice, let children fill them and shake it to hear the sound it makes.
• Add flavoring essence to your rice trays to represent each holiday/season (ex: pumpkin spice for Halloween. Peppermint or gingerbread scent for Christmas)
• Let children explore and enjoy this sensory rice activity.

Areas of Development:

• Senses
• Fine motor and gross motor skills
• Cognitive development
• Hand-eye coordination
• Communication and language development
• Understanding the world
• Science – Introduction to seasons
• Math – Color recognition and association
• Art and design, creativity

Shape hunt

Practice shape recognition, names, and shape association using this fun, creative, sensory activity.

Materials:

• Rice (any color)
• Foam or wooden shapes puzzle
• Tray to use for rice play

How to:

• Fill a tray or small bucket with rice (your desired amount and color).
• Hide the shape parts of the puzzle into the rice. (ensure you have a board that shows the missing pieces to find)
• Let your little ones find the missing shapes and put them onto the shape puzzle.
• Discuss the activity and name the shapes as they find them to help develop your child’s vocabulary and shape awareness.
• Name things that have that shape (ex: square – box. Triangle – pizza) to learn about shape association.

Areas of Development:

• Senses
• Fine motor skills
• Cognitive development
• Hand-eye coordination
• Introduction to Math – Shape recognition and understanding
• Communication and language development
• Art and design, creativity

Rice Sensory Bottles

What to introduce your younger baby to rice? This rice activity is something that can be made to use safely with babies as young as 6 weeks old.

Materials:

• Rice (any color)
• Empty plastic water bottle (mini bottles are good for little ones to hold. Voss bottles make great sensory bottles for babies because they are smooth and clear)
• Other items that have vibrant colors, clear shapes or sensory aspects (small beads, pompoms, ribbons, pipe cleaners, glitter, foam shapes

How to:

• Fill a clean, dry bottle with your rice (color of your choice)
• Add in other dry items to make your bottle more fun and exciting for your little one.
• The bottle does not need to be filled entirely. This will depend on what kind of sensory bottle you want.
• For a slow-moving, treasure search sensory bottle: fill the bottle about ¾ of the way with a single color rice. Add contrasting color items to search for, leaving a little space at the top to allow for movement (Ex: for a spring theme bottle – fill with green rice and add a pink, yellow and purple flower or leaf shape beads). Close and seal with tape or hot glue gun and shake to mix. Let your little shake, turn and move the bottle to find the colored beads in the rice.
• For a color/holiday/season sensory bottle: Use all items of a single color (ex: learning color red – use red rice, bits of red ribbon and red pipe cleaners). Fill only ¼ of the bottle with rice and add only a small amount of items, so only about ½ – ¾ of the bottle is filled. This will allow for movement and all items to be seen clearly.
• For a weathered bottle (ex: snow): fill the bottle with colored rice about ¼ of the way. Add a little colored glitter to match (snow – White rice, white glitter). In a jug, measure half the bottle amount of water and half clear hair gel, slowly, mix them together well and remove any bubbles that may have formed on top of the water. Fill the bottle with the water/hair gel mix. Close and seal with hot glue gun or tape (ensure it is not leaking). Shake to mix and see the weather representation in the bottle (ex: snowstorm)

Areas of Development:

• Senses
• Fine motor skills
• Cognitive development
• Hand-eye coordination
• Understanding of the world
• Math – color, shape recognition and introduction
• Science – seasons, environment
• Communication and language development

It’s Raining Rice

My boys love to play with toys in the rice that they can experiment with. This activity is perfect for their curious minds to explore how things work.

Materials:

• Rice (multiple colors)
• Cut up pieces of PVC pipes or tubes
• Kitchen rolls of toilet paper rolls
• Tape
• Tools for pouring (ex: spoons and cups)
• Tray for rice play

How to:

• Fill a tray with rice (quantity and color of your choice)
• Make tunnels, slides, and tubes by taping together PVC pipes, toilet roll tubes and kitchen roll tubes sliced in half, funnels and other items along the wall and into the rice tray for little ones to pour rice into and watch the rice trickle, slide and fall along with the slide and tubes from the top to the bottom of the tubes.

Areas of Development:

• Senses
• Fine motor and gross motor skills
• Cognitive development
• Problem-solving skills
• Hand-eye coordination
• Introduction to Math – addition
• Introduction to science – movement and experimenting
• Communication and language development
• Art and design, creativity

Conclusion

Playing with rice is excellent sensory fun and aids in so many different developmental areas. As long as you are supervising the activity, it is a wonderful learning experience for you and your baby. Have fun with it, talk about it and make sure to capture the fun so you can share them with friends and family.

Article checked by:
Dr Binu George – Consultant General Pediatric
(MBBS, FRCPCH, Dual CCST (UK), Paediatric Neurodisability)
Head Of Department, Child Development Department at
NMC Royal Hospital, Khalifa City, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates