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Mixed Prints Life

Rainy Day Fun :: Glow in the Dark Rice

March 21, 2013

Our resident preschool teacher, Joanne, is back today with a FANTASTIC indoor/rainy day activity!

Spring has definitely not sprung, resulting in a very grumpy classroom (and teacher). Whenever the weather outside is inclement, I need to be able to make indoor time much more fun for my kiddos (or it’s going to become a disaster in here). That’s when I reach into my “Rainy Day Fund” for relatively easy activities that will keep my students occupied.

Jewel is selling 20 pound bags of rice for $8.99. Go out and get some now! Trust me:

Glow in the Dark Rice

Palmed Rice

Glow in the Dark Rice

What you need:

-Rice

-Fluorescent paints (found at Michael’s or any craft store)

-Rubbing alcohol

-Long container

-Toys (shovels, cups, sieves, magnetic letters, etc.)

-Black light

*Amazon sells really nice ones for about $20 shipped. Personally, I think it’s a great investment to have for future activities.

*You can also get a black light bulb from Wal-Mart, but it doesn’t quite “pop” as much as the black light.

Now what?

-Dump as much rice as you want to use into a container. I separated the rice into six sections for each color of paint I was using. You only need enough paint to be able to coat the rice (however if you over skimp, it’s not as bright and fun). Pour a capful of rubbing alcohol onto the paint and mix together. The rubbing alcohol helps the rice dry quicker (my bucket dried within an hour, with occassional stirring).

Rice Colors

-Once the rice is dry, it’s play time! I made a little fort in the corner of my classroom using quilts, and used the black light to make the rice glow. (My black light flashlight broke during this activity, so thus the recommendation for a nice table one. And from this, I can tell you the black bulb worked, but not as well – it wasn’t as bright. I also found that the rice faintly glowed without the black light if your space is dark enough).

And it looks pretty nice in regular lighting:

Glow in the Dark Rice

 What your child is learning:

-Fine motor skills – holding those cups and shovels require refined wrist and finger movements, helping to build those little muscles that lead to early writers.

-Cognitive skills – pouring from one container to another requires a lot of attention from a growing brain, and teaches spatial relationship and measurement.

-Using inquiry skills and using the appropriate language to describe what is happening.

-Extending the activity – bury letters, shapes or numbers and have the children identify them as them fish them out. Have magnetic toys? Awesome, hot glue a round magnet to a piece of string and “fish” the other toys out.

This “Rainy Day” activity takes a little bit of planning, but it amazed my little ones, and provided literally hours of fun.

Filed Under: activities 7 Comments

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Comments

  1. JadeLouise Designs (@JadeLDesigns) says

    March 21, 2013 at 5:02 pm

    Now that is just pure brilliance! My kids would have a blast with those! That is such a fun activity!

    Reply
  2. Grandma Juice says

    March 21, 2013 at 9:22 pm

    That is seriously 1 of the coolest crafts / projects I’ve seen in awhile!! Even I want to play with it LOL

    Reply
  3. Natassia says

    March 22, 2013 at 1:26 am

    This is awesome!! 😉

    Reply
  4. Motherhood on the Rocks says

    March 22, 2013 at 2:19 am

    That is really cool! Great idea. My daughter would love this!

    Reply
  5. Summer Davis says

    March 22, 2013 at 4:03 am

    OH. MY. GOSH. We don’t eat rice, so this is a FANTASTIC option for the sack of rice that we keep in the pantry just in case our phones go for a swim. What kid doesn’t love bright colors? Shoot, I like bright colors! I know what I’m going tomorrow. Michael’s, here I come!

    Reply
  6. Elizabeth Towns says

    March 22, 2013 at 5:04 am

    That’s great! We did colored rice and made shakers out of them with empty water bottles! We never thought about fluorescent colors. We used food coloring. Now we are going to have to do it again! The colors are so bright
    1

    Reply
  7. Tabitha Vos says

    March 22, 2013 at 6:59 pm

    That is a great idea! I will keep this in mind for when my niece and nephew is over.

    Reply

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Dancer (not professionally), drinker (of coffee), diva (#SELFIEsteem) aka Hella Basic, doer (of the things. maybe)
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