>This past Friday was my oldest son’s Christmas party at his developmental delay preschool room. Family was invited, so my youngest, my mom, and I all attended. The kids did this project which incorporates a lot of sensory items, but is is SUPER easy and SUPER cheap! In fact, most of you probably already have all the necessary materials. You could adapt this to any season or any design you want to make, so think beyond Christmas and all the ways you can use this with your children.

Before I get into the details, I have to share an AHA! moment (to be trendy). My son’s teacher had copy box lids and plastic serving trays with sides for each child. The paper went inside there, and this contained the mess. Genius! If you don’t have copy boxes sitting around your house, I know your local dollar store probably has serving trays. You could even take your children with you and let them each pick out a different color or design and then have their very own special project space!

Materials:
Paper
White rice
Food coloring
Writing utensil for creating design
White glue
Rubbermaid-type containers with lids (smaller works better for little hands)
Bowl for glue
Paintbrush for glue
Box lid or serving tray for workspace

Directions:
1. Draw outline design on paper for younger children, or let older children draw theirs. We made candy canes with large stripes. You want something with large space, not too complex, so you’ll be able to see the design when done.
2. Place white rice in container and add some food coloring. Snap lid on. Let child shake, shake, SHAKE! This makes the rice change color. You could even sing a song and use the shaking as an instrument.
3. Paint the outline with white glue. Cover the ENTIRE design inside, as this will hold the colored rice on.
4. Use rice to fill in design. For example, we made green rice and red rice and filled in the stripes of the candy cane.
5. Hold up and let extra rice fall into tray. Place somewhere safe to dry.