Colored Play Rice

My daughter loves to play in dirt, sand, and really anything she can dig in.  I have seen different ideas for coloring rice and using that instead of sand.  I was able to find a 20 lb bag of rice which was more than enough!  This is easy to do but can be a little messy lol  All you need is uncooked rice, food coloring, rubbing alcohol, plastic baggy, aluminum foil, paper towel, and a cookie sheet to dry the rice on.  You will want to do this on a sunny day so you can set the rice out to dry it dries pretty fast this way.  Here are the steps to making brightly colored rice:

1. In a plastic baggy put 2 cups uncooked rice, 1/2 bottle of food coloring, and 1 1/2 Tbls rubbing alcohol.

2. Shake rice until completely coated.








(Neon Pink)











3. Line cookie sheet with foil

4. Dump rice on cookie sheet and spread out evenly.  (Use a paper towel to spread the rice so you don't get food coloring on your hands.)

5. Set outside in the sun until all rice is dry.

 (Purple...i used a full bottle on the purple and thought it was too dark.  You could use less food coloring than I used if you want light colored rice.)








6.  Have fun digging and playing in the rice!

I store the colored rice in a big tupper wear container.  Sometimes I let her play with it inside but it does get every where even if you put a towel or blanket down so most of the time she plays with it outside for easy cleanup.  She loves it and wants to play in it ALL the time lol.  One neat activity to do is to hide "small treasures" down in the rice for them to find while digging.  This can be whatever you want.  My daughter has a few small plastic hearts that fell off a hair clip that she likes to dig for in her rice.

Bubble Art!

Looking for a fun summer activity???  Bubble Art is a fantastic way to keep your kids occupied and gives them a chance to explore their artistic side!  To make the bubbles, put about 10 drops of food coloring into a small cup of regular bubbles, lay paper on the ground, blow bubbles and watch them pop on the paper leaving cool color!  I did this as an outside activity and think that is this best place to do this activity.  It can get a little messy so I would do it someplace you don't care about colored bubbles spilling on the ground : )

Homemade Blueberry Pancakes

Everyone knows making pancakes with a pre-made mix is easy, but not many know making pancakes from scratch are just as easy!!  Making them from scratch is a great way to have organic/all natural ingredients in your pancakes!  In my opinion these tasted way better than the pancake mixes.


Homemade Blueberry Pancakes

1 1/2 cups flour  (I used organic)
3 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 Tbls sugar
1 1/4 cups milk  (organic)
1 egg
3 Tbls melted butter  (organic)

fresh blueberries

Mix dry ingredients together first (flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar) then add wet ingredients (milk, egg, and melted butter).  In a skillet, melt a little butter enough to cover the bottom of the skillet.  When better is melted and hot add pancake mix....I usually make small ones for my daughter and then bigger for the rest.  After pouring the mix into the skillet sprinkle fresh blueberries in the batter.  When the edges start to lightly brown flip pancakes.  I then topped the finished pancakes with sliced strawberries and powdered sugar.  You can really add other ingredients instead of blueberries like chocolate chips!

Sparkler holder

Ever have the problem of sparklers popping you??  Try sticking the wire of the sparkler in the end of a stick!  It works great as a holder for sparklers for young children!!  If you can only find smaller sticks the wires wrap easily around the end of the stick!