I got this idea from The Imagination Tree site. If you have little kids and haven’t been to her site, you should go! I dyed the rice with food coloring, stirred in some cinnamon and gold glitter and added all the fun items. I made it so that everything in the pan was yellow or gold. I even buried some chocolate coins which I let them eat when they found them. Before letting them see it, I tried to bury almost everything in the rice.
They were really excited and told me this was so neat. I gave them spoons and containers and let them have at it. They played for nearly an hour and rice ended up all over the kitchen floor, but it was easy to clean up! The more they stirred, the more the cinnamon smell wafted up and they kept telling me it smelled so good. Nadia created stories from the stuff she found and acted them out. But Amelie was the most content to pour the rice from container to container which was fine by me.
This is such a great idea and fun for the kids – I plan on trying another one of the Imagination Tree sensory bins in the future.