Peppermint Rice Sensory Bin

Sensory bins are a great way to open conversation about holidays or special events, all while providing opportunities for learning through play. This peppermint rice sensory bin is one that we use around Christmas. It has a wonderful scent and color, and is perfect for the holidays.

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Make Your Peppermint Rice

What you need:

uncooked rice (as much as you want for your bin)
peppermint extract
red food coloring
wax paper
cookie sheet
tupperware bin

What to do:

Place your rice in a gallon-sized Ziplock bag.
Add 1 teaspoon (or more if you have a lot of rice) to the bag.
Add a few drops of food coloring to the bag.
Seal the bag, and have your child shake it up!
Place wax paper on a cookie sheet, and pour the rice on the wax paper to dry overnight.

Make a Peppermint Rice Sensory Bin

Add your colored, scented rice to a large bin. We added some plain, white rice to the bin as well for a candy cane effect. Add some spoons, cups, bowls, etc. to act as fine motor tools (or get these

, we love em’).

Allow your kids to explore the bin. Ask questions about how it feels, how it smells, what it sounds like when they play with it.

To contain the mess, lay a plastic tablecloth down on the ground before play. Once done, take it outside and shake it off!

Scooping, filling and transferring rice are all excellent skills for kids to develop. We emptied out some plastic, candy-filled candy canes and some Santa jars to pour our rice into. Older kids can make patterns with the rice in containers, adding a bit more education to your play.

To see some of our other seasonal sensory bins, check out:

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Garden Sensory Bin for Outdoor or Indoor Play - Views From a Step Stool says:
March 6, 2017 at 12:34 pm
[…] color mixing so was thrilled when we got to mix green and red to make brown rice. There is a variety of ways to color rice but we like to use a couple pumps of hand sanitizer with some drops of food […]