Easy Rice Sensory Bin Ideas Kids Love!

How to Create a Rice Sensory Bin for Kids

While colors, scents, and toys might be different for each sensory bin theme, in general sensory bins are very simple to set up.

What You Need for a Rice Sensory Bin

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Tray: The first thing you need for your sensory bin is a tray. We, personally, love sensory bins of all sizes and share them here on Life Over C’s. But each size of a sensory bin is best for different uses.

• Deep Tray: Ideally, your sensory bin will be a minimum of 4 inches deep to help keep the sensory materials contained inside. We love using large plastic storage bins when a couple kids are playing together (or an older child) and we often use paper trays for individual-use. But my absolute favorite for individual use is these stackable storage bins. They are so easy to put a lid on and save the sensory bin for later. Which saves you valuable time when you need a quick activity to keep the kids busy. We have also used mini sensory bins on a small tray, but it is best to keep them inside a larger container to minimize the mess.
• Full-Size Sensory Table: When you are in a classroom and want to have multiple kids playing with the same sensory bin, a full-size sensory table is just what you need. In our preschool classrooms, we have used this sensory table. It is great for dry and wet sensory exploration.

Filler: For our rice sensory bins, our filler is usually just dyed rice. You can get our easy instructions for how to dye rice for sensory play here.

How to Dye Rice for Sensory Bins

Dyeing rice for sensory bins is super easy and only takes a few minutes of hands-on preparation. Simply combine rice with vinegar and food coloring (Ninja tip: You can substitute hand sanitizer for vinegar if you happen to have a stash of extra sanitizer around.) You can get the step by step instructions on how to dye rice with this simple tutorial.

Easy Set Up Themed Rice Sensory Bins

Don’t have a printer? Or maybe you a looking for a quick non-printable activity? Our themed rice sensory bins will definitely do the trick. After your rice is dyed, setting up these easy sensory bin ideas will only take a few minutes of your time.

1. Rainbow Rice Sensory Bin

Some sensory bins are just naturally beautiful like this color filled rainbow rice sensory bin. We initially used the colors in stripes in a bin, but, as kids do, the colors quickly mixed together to create this bright dyed rice rainbow sensory bin. Adding a few rainbow themed toys created a fun-filled STEM experience.

2. Pink Lemonade Rice Sensory Bin

Perfect for summer… or when you are dreaming of summer. This lemonade themed sensory bin definitely engages the senses with its lemony smell, bright colors and varied textures. Combine some fake ice cubes and cups for a great way to practice having a lemonade stand (without all the hassle of dragging everything to the curb and sitting outside on a hot day.)

3. Parts of an Apple Sensory Bin

Explore the colors of an apple orchard, make an apple pie, and learn about the parts of an apple with this colorful red, yellow and green apple sensory bin.

4. Alphabet Matching Sensory Bin

Using the rice from our apple sensory bin, you can easily change the rice sensory bin from a science and pretend play exploration to a literacy activity with our free printable apple themed alphabet sorting activity.

5. Honey Bee Hive Rice Sensory Bin

This black and yellow dyed rice sensory bin is a great way to explore a honey bee hive without any dangers of getting stung. Use the pasta to represent a bee hive along with some felted bees, honey dippers and scoops for a fun Honey Bee Sensory Bin.

6. Time to the Hour Individual Rice Sensory Bin

We love using sensory bins in our math and literacy centers, just like we did with the alphabet sorting activity above. A sensory bin can turn a rather mundane activity into something exciting just by adding some rice.

Hide the different clocks in a shoebox sized sensory bin to make this fun time matching sensory bin.

7. Easter Sensory Bin

You can also combine themed pasta with rice to create a very easy sensory bin for any theme. For this Easter Rice Sensory Bin we combined green dyed rice with dyed pasta to make a vibrant spring sensory activity for kids. Add in some Easter eggs and a spoon to practice scooping and pouring with your preschoolers.

Get step-by-step instructions for how to dye pasta for sensory bins with this easy tutorial.

8. Alphabet Pasta and Rice Sensory Bin

Using our instructions for how to dye pasta we created this super easy alphabet pasta and rice sensory bin. Grab some alphabet pasta from the grocery store or online and combine it with some plain rice for an easy peasy alphabet recognition activity for kids.

9. Bright Yellow Sunflower Sensory Bin

Dye your rice a vibrant yellow to create this sunflower sensory bin for your kids. Grab a few fake sunflowers, seeds and some fine motor tools for a quick and easy to assemble activity.

10. Red, White and Blue Rice Sensory Bin

Stars and stripes… or just stripes make this red, white and blue sensory bin perfect for any patriotic holiday. Fourth of July, Memorial Day, Veteran’s Day or even Flag Day. We added some simple cupcake toppers and liners to engage the kids in pretend play with a patriotic theme.

11. Night Sky Sensory Bin

After you use your dyed rice for one theme, you can always dye it a darker color to use for a different theme. We turned our jungle theme sensory bin into a night sky sensory bin by dyeing the rice black and adding lots of sparkles with gold beads, glitter stars and gems.

12. Valentine’s Day Vocabulary Sensory Bin

Valentine’s Day literacy activities like this Valentine’s Day Sight Word printable become so much more fun when you pair them with a rice sensory bin. For this Valentine’s Day sensory bin, we used red rice that we already had on hand from Christmas and added the hearts to create a fun seek & find activity.

13. Pretty Pink Valentine’s Day Sensory Bin

Themed bins are so easy to make with just dyed rice and a few themed materials. This Pretty Pink Sensory Bin for Valentine’s Day only needs pink rice, heart buttons and a few other items. It’s great for working on fine motor and beginning threading skills because the pipe cleaners are more sturdy than a shoelace.

14. Frog Pond Sensory Bin

Whether you are learning about frog life cycles with your preschooler or habitats with your kindergarteners, this Frog Pond Sensory Bin is sure to be a hit! Combine blue dyed rice with some green crinkle paper, toy frogs and lily pads to create a super fun pretend play experience!

15. Farm Animal Sorting & Counting Sensory Bin

We used different types of rice combined with some dyed pasta to create a fun farm themed sensory bin. The kids created different animal pens to practice counting and sorting the animals.

16. Time Sensory Bin with Analog and Digital Clocks

Another way to practice reading a clock becomes fun with this time sensory bin. Really any matching activity becomes more interesting by hiding the matches in a sensory bin filled with rice.

Common Materials for Rice Sensory Bins

• Rice (any kind)
• Food Coloring
• Plastic Bin
• Tongs, Tweezers
• Scoops, Spoons, Measuring Cups
• Silicone Cupcake Liners
• Animal Figurines
• Pipe Cleaners
• Beads, Buttons, Gems

Why Should I Use Sensory Bins?

Beyond the fun of sensory bins, the benefits of sensory play are many. Yes, your kids will love creating a rainbow world or jungle adventure, but they will also benefit from exploring the sensory bins with their five senses.

While part of sensory play involves exploring the environment with their eyes, don’t worry about making a sensory bin that is Insta-perfect. The pictures we share of our sensory bins are for inspiration only. Kids need to be allowed to use their own imagination to create a sensory play experience that is most beneficial to them.

Reasons to Use Rice Sensory Bins:

Life Skills: Combining a rice sensory bin with simple tools like a funnel and spoon teach kids the important skills of scooping and pouring. A sensory bin is a safe place to practice pouring into cups, bowls, or cardboard tubes without spilling milk all over the kitchen counter. Providing scooping and pouring activities is part of the ECERS-R guidelines for water play and sand play.

Engaging the Five Senses: The more kids use their five senses the more they are able to adapt to the ever-changing world around them. While most of our sensory bins do not involve the sense of taste (our popcorn sensory bin is an example of a taste-safe sensory bin when used with one child), most of them do involve the rest of the five senses: smell, hear, feel, and see. Grab our five senses scavenger hunt to add to any sensory bin for a fun way to record the senses around them.

Pretend Play: I’ll say it a million times if I need to, the only job of a child is to play. It is how they receive information and express to others the information they have learned. Want to know if your child understands the job of a firefighter? Add our firefighter pretend play set to a simple rice sensory bin and let them play. They will show you exactly what they know.

And those are just a few of the many benefits of playing with a simple rice sensory bin!

See our idea list above for easy ways to implement rice sensory bins with your kids.

Frequently Asked Questions

These are frequently asked questions about using rice sensory bins.

Share it with us!

We’d love to see what you create! Be sure to tag us on social media with your rice sensory bin inspiration!

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More Rice Sensory Exploration Ideas

• 2D Shapes Sensory Bag with Rice
• Rainstorm Sensory Bottle Made with Rice

More Activities You’ll Love:

Try These Sensory Bin Fillers

• Dyed Pasta
• Dyed Cooked Spaghetti
• Dyed Coconut
• How to ReDye Rice