The Best Colored Rice with Food Coloring

Food coloring + dry rice = a match made in heaven! Here’s how to make colored rice with food coloring your kids will love to play with.

In this post you’ll learn how to make colored rice. I took a picture of the rice, but I decided to delete it. It was too grainy! In all seriousness, I love rice! I love to cook it, eat it, and I love coloring it for my kids to play with.

If you don’t have food coloring, check out my post about dying rice with acrylic paint.

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Rice is a wonderful base for sensory play. You can add mini figurines, rocks, leaves, cups, bowls, toys, cars, dinosaurs, baking supplies, dolls, and just about whatever else you’d like. The possibilities are endless when we talk about colored rice. It’s amazing!

A sensory tray with rainbow colored rice.

Table of Contents

Colored Rice with Food Coloring Recipe

Ingredients

2 cups of rice

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2 tbsp. vinegar

Food coloring (I use Wilton gel food coloring- it gives it more vibrant color, but any kind will work)

Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple colored rice.

Directions

Pour 2 cups of rice into a ziplock bag
Add in vinegar and a few drops of food coloring
Close the bag and shake until the rice is evenly coated.
Put on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.
Let it dry for one hour and then it’s ready to use!

Food coloring being added to a ziplock bag of rice.

Educational Ideas:

Have your kids use the rice to spell letters of the alphabet
Draw their numbers on a cookie sheet full of rice
Sort multi-colored rice into individual colors

My children's hands mixing the rainbow rice together.

FAQs about Colored Rice

What do you do with the rice after it’s been played with?

I store it in ziplock bags in a bin and put it in my craft closet.

What kind of rice do you use for sensory bins?

I use long grain white rice, but any kind of rice will work!

How do you dye rice for sensory play without vinegar?

Add rice to a ziplock bag. Squirt some non-toxic acrylic paint in it. Add just a little, because you can always add more. Put some hand sanitizer in the bag. Shake it and mix it very well. Lay it out on a cookie sheet or parchment paper to dry for an hour. Play!