Ocean Rice

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Picture this – it’s the night before my husband goes back to work and I’m about to be solo for the first time with my 2.5 year old and my 2 week old. So what do I do? Well naturally…I went to the dollar tree! 

If you’re a toddler mom, you’ve probably heard of Busy Toddler on Instagram. And if you haven’t, then you need to look her up! She’s fabulous. And she posts all kinds of great toddler activity ideas – “tools” as she calls them! Anyway, she inspired me to make some sensory bin activities for my toddler so that he’d have some “new activities” that first week it was just the 3 of us at home! Hence, my trip to the Dollar Tree. 

Now – I’m not the professional that Susie is, but I’ve really gotten into sensory bin creation…that’s another blog. You can find my Sensory Bin Blog here with more details on some of the items we use, things we’ve found, and bins we’ve made – which includes Rainbow Rice! That’s a favorite and a staple around here.

Now, don’t get me wrong – we love our traditional Rainbow Rice. But I wouldn’t be me, if I didn’t add a seasonal flare to my rainbow rice (check out my Spring, Fall, Christmas, and Winter sensory bins for additional ideas!) 

Well, it’s the first week of May, we’re heading on family vacation in a couple weeks, and that means it’s almost summer…which means our Spring Rainbow Rice goes up, and our Ocean Rice is coming out!

So naturally, I headed back to my beloved Dollar Tree last weekend and started gathering my supplies to get our Ocean Rice ready! 

All you need is some white rice, food coloring, white vinegar, a bin/tub, and any accessories you want to add! Check out Busy Toddler’s recipe here to make your rice! 

Since we are doing “Ocean Rice” I obviously went blue and green for this bin!

Then I added in my themed accessories…clam shells (that were actually Easter Eggs I found back in the spring!), tiny plastic blue cups, a blue miniature ladle, and a fun little jar that’s actually from a bug collecting kit 😂 – all from the Dollar Tree! 

I already had some sea animals that I bought from Amazon for a different sensory themed birthday gift (another blog to come!), and plenty of real seashells that I’ve collected from the beach over the years!

I meant to have this all set up and ready before my 3 year old woke up, but I had forgotten to switch out the bins…he asked me *approximately* 45 times “is it ready yet?” 

Needless to say – every time I change up the rice or add new things, it’s always a hit and sparks new creative and independent play! 

Updating this blog a bit to add that earlier this spring, I actually had another Dollar Tree jackpot run…you can read the full details here! But Dollar Tree had upped their Easter Egg game even more and I found some adorable animal shaped eggs, so of course I had to add some sea creature eggs to our bin!

And here we are, a year later, pulling back out our Ocean Rice, and it’s just as entertaining now as it was then!

Let me know if you and the littles in your life make some Ocean Rice too…I’d love to hear about it!

Xoxo, Alli