Mixing: Rice

The local weather has been pretty perfect and the girls love going outside, so I decided to take this mess maker outside. I put 2-3 cups of rice in a mixing bowl and threw in some whisks, measuring spoons, spatula, etc. How is that for simple.

I didn't get any pictures until after; I was too busy playing with them. With one hand, I was holding the bowl so they wouldn't dump it all out in one go. The other hand was demonstrating scooping and pouring with the measuring spoon and trying to keep Abby from stuffing her mouth full of uncooked rice. I was actually surprised that she wasn't putting it in her mouth more than she was trying to, but she was really enjoying grabbing and releasing handfuls of rice with both hands...and giggling, lots of giggling. Alyssa liked scooping the rice out and then shaking it out onto the patio. She never got too much at one time so by the time the bowl was empty, they were about finished anyway. They didn't really use the whisks at all, just held them or threw them.

In addition to the sensory play with their hands, they got to experience the texture of standing/sitting on the rice they had strewn about... and I didn't have to clean it up!

**added bonus: the rice attracted the stray cat to linger outside the window a little longer than usual. The girls love watching the cat, so they were very excited to see him so close for so long.

My quick thoughts:

• Could be done inside, too, but with more clean up. 
• There are lots of varieties that could be done: add different sizes, shapes, textures. (dried beans, noodles, popcorn kernels, small toys, blocks, etc. There are tons of "sensory bin" ideas out there. I think I'll mix it up a little each time. But I do like occasionally going simple and focusing on using the tools or one texture. Maybe start with rice then add a variety every few minutes. 
• I really loved how easy this was. No prep, no clean up, yet sensory and fun; my kind of activity.