Valentines Sensory Box

When doing any sensory play, one of our favourite resources to use is rice. It's cheap, it has a lovely texture and you can use it in a variety of different ways. One of the easiest ways to create a sensory box is to just pour a bag of rice into a plastic tray or box. This is perfect for younger children who are just discovering sensory boxes. For preschoolers one of the ways we like to enhance a rice sensory box is to add colour. I follow Happy Hooligans instructions on how to dye rice. It's mess free and a fun activity in itself. 

So for this valentines sensory box I dyed one bag of long grain rice with some red food colouring following the Happy Hooligan instructions. I left it overnight to dry and it was ready to play the next morning.

I filled a box with rice and then I added some cups, spoons and a colander along with some valentines related things. I then set this out on our tuff spot tray. The tuff spot was great for using as a rice boundary. My son (3) loved it! He spent ages scooping the rice into the heart ice cube tray then emptying it only to refill it again. Even my daughter (6) enjoyed playing with it.

The rice was mostly contained within the tuff spot so it was really easy to brush it up into a container and stored away until next time. The remaining rice on the floor just got hoovered!