Fun Kids Crafts
Minibeast Sensory Tray
Here you can dye rice green to look like grass and use it as a base for your wonderful minibeast sensory world.
Colouring dried rice takes 2 minutes to do and then you just leave it to dry. It feels lovely for kids to push their hands into, and to let run through their fingers.
You can add pebbles, leaves, twigs and flowers to your minibeast sensory tray. That way you can also talk to your child where each minibeast likes to live.
Is it up on a leaf in the trees? Does it crawl on the ground? Or does it like to sit on flowers and eat the nectar?
Summary:
Time: 10 minutes
Drying: 1 hour
Age: Toddlers and Little kids
Difficulty: Easy peasy
You will need:
- Plastic food storage box with lid
- Rice, uncooked
- White vinegar
- Green food colouring
- Kitchen roll
- Pebbles
- Leaves
- Twigs
- Flowers
- Selection of plastic mini beast toys
Recommended Plastic Minibeast Toys
Find on Amazon here.
Happy bug toys by Melissa & Doug, trusted toy makers for kids’ creativity and learning.
Find on Amazon here.
Realistic looking minibeasts.
They can be used with this sensory tray activity and double up as fun finger puppets too.
Step 1: Colour your rice
Pour your rice into a plastic food storage box.
Add 1-2 teaspoons of white vinegar and stir it through.
Then add a few drops of green food colouring.
The more colouring you add, the brighter colour green your grass will be.
Step 2: Give it a mix
Stir the food colouring into your rice with a spoon.
Step 3: Shake, shake!
Pop the lid on your plastic food storage container and shake it vigorously to make sure all the rice gets evenly covered by the green dye.
Step 4: Leave your rice to dry
Pour your green rice out onto sheets of kitchen roll and leave it to dry.
It will be ready to use in about an hour.
Step 5: Create your minibeast sensory tray
Now it’s time to create your exciting insect world.
You can return the rice to a dry food storage container or pour it into a shallow plastic tray.
Add some garden items such as pebbles, leaves, twigs and branches. Then add some plastic mini beast toys for your child to start playing.
Optional extras
You can also add in some spoons, scoops and pots for your children to gather and pour the rice with.
Give them some toy magnifying glasses too so that they can examine their minibeasts more closely!
Our Favourite Book About Minibeasts
If you’d like to explore the world of minibeasts more with your child, then this is one of our favourite reads.
It goes through a lot of different kinds of insects. It has little rhymes for each one that let your child learn a little something about them.
Mad About Minibeasts!
Find on Amazon here.
Rhyming fun as you explore lots of different minibeasts together.
Make more sensory trays with dried rice
You can dye rice in different colours to make sensory trays with different themes.
Blue rice works well for an under the sea sensory bin.
Multicoloured rice can work for a magical fantasy sensory tray. Each colour of rice can be placed in the tray to make rainbow stripes. Add in plastic toys of unicorns and dragons for your kids to explore their enchanted kingdom.
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