Home       About Us       Salsa Store       Referral       Lifebooks       Recipes       Videos       Blog Headers

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Rainy day rice

Thanks for all the great rainy day suggestions on the previous post! It's still raining cats and dogs here, so we are slowly working our way through all of your suggestions. DSC_0296LR DSC_0326LR The activity right now is Rainy Day Rice (we got this idea from the anonymous commenter who said "a big tupperware container of dried beans kept my son busy for hours when he was a preschooler. Just dump several bags of dried beans in the container, give them funnels, cups, bowls, whatever and let them have at it. I always spread a plastic tablecloth on the floor and told him to try and keep all the beans on the cloth." ) We didn't have any dried beans in the house, but we did have rice (we always have rice!) and some dried lentils that I've never had any success cooking. So that's what we used. DSC_0330LR DSC_0337LR DSC_0343LR I spread out a tablecloth, the girls grabbed a motley assortment of cups, funnels, and containers from the playroom, and I dumped out a big ole pile of dried rice and lentils. We're on hour two now, and they're not showing any signs of losing interest, so this activity gets two-thumbs up from me. DSC_0278LR DSC_0283LR DSC_0285LR DSC_0288LR DSC_0291LR DSC_0292LR PS: Is anyone else having trouble with Flickr turning your pictures red? These pictures look horribly reddish to me, and they looked fine before I uploaded them to Flickr. No time to fiddle with them, though, because Ro and Ree are trying out a Mini Hip Hop class and we've got to hop in the car. Update at 6:33pm: Well we're back from Mini Hip Hop class, which was a bust, and the girls are playing with their Rainy Day Rice again. They actually squealed "Ooooo, it's still here" when we walked back in the house. They didn't like the hip hop class at all, by the way, I think mostly because they didn't like the instructor, but I can't really tell. I asked if they wanted to try a different dance class with a different instructor, and they said "no," so I pressed it, and then Ree threw one of my quotes back at me: "Mama... you know how when you have a sippy cup that's a different color, the milk still tastes the same?" and I snorted with laughter. Yeah, yeah, I understand, baby girl. So no dance classes for us in the near future. (Oh, almost forgot to say who was who in the pics. Ree has on the chocolate-dipped strawberry outfit. She went shopping at the Crazy8 sale this past weekend and picked out all the stuff. And Ro is the one with her pants tucked in her socks, as usual.)

22 comments:

  1. Wow. I might have to try this. It would be worth it even if it meant 30 minutes of peace : )

    ReplyDelete
  2. You Must try this recipe. http://www.egglandsbest.com/recipes/desserts/recipe/09-01-14/Chocolate-Cake---Just-One-Slice.aspx?ReturnURL=/recipes/desserts.aspx

    The girls will love it too!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hey, that looks like fun! At the Children's Hospital, they use rice instead of sand in their indoor sandbox thingy (the same one you and I have). They color the rice somehow and it's always the most popular attraction in the room. Since we're in for at least another week of this rain, maybe I'll give it a try! Clean up is as easy as running the vacuum, right?

    :)

    Donna
    Our Blog: Double Happiness!

    ReplyDelete
  4. how long did it last?

    just curious.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Just now trying it with Caroline. Rice and some pinto beans in a Tupperware. So far, she's LOVING it! Great idea! Should have done this a long time ago!

    ReplyDelete
  6. As a former teacher, I used to color the rice and different shaped noodles - disclaimer: not for very young children. All you need is food coloring, ziplock bags, and rubbing alcohol. Pour the alcohol in a ziplock bag, add food coloring, mix. Then add noodles and shake. Dry out overnight on cookie sheet. Voila!! Add beans of various varieties and you have H
    hours of fun!

    ReplyDelete
  7. We use rice and beans as part of Dallas' therapy at home. It was suggested by her OT. Trust me, a Dyson can suck up a good 10 lbs dropped in the heating vent!!!

    ReplyDelete
  8. We did this All! The! Time! with the Tongginator - great for sensory-seekers, especially. Other ideas:

    scavenger hunt (using photos instead of words, so they are independent in their search)

    use a soft foam ball and a hula hoop on the ground to "shoot hoops" like in basketball

    a black trash bag taped to a table with shaving cream on top to smear around and play with (using a finger to trace shapes and pictures and such)

    indoor picnic

    musical parade through every room of the house

    tape out a hopscotch grid on the floor and let them go

    if you have butcher paper, have them draw (or paint, if you are adventurous) a mural

    ReplyDelete
  9. So loving this idea!!! Thanks for passing it on.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Oh my gosh, I want to go to mini hip hop! How cool. I hope you got a good video for us!

    I just got Casey some EZ Stepper Stilts. I also got her a Playskool Honeybee Hop. She hasn't seen that one yet. I'm saving for an emergency. :)

    Jamie

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous1/21/2010

    I am a fairly young competitive figure skater who helps teach learn to skate classes. Most four year olds love ice skating, so if there is a rink nearby, I think Ro and Ree may really enjoy if they got to iceskate.

    ReplyDelete
  12. How about linking to that "rainy day list" in the sidebar. . . we have many months of winter left here in New Hanmpshire!

    ReplyDelete
  13. This is fabulous for sensory!!!

    ReplyDelete
  14. First of all, I can't believe Ree thought that up. Wow, what a little mind.

    Love this rice, lentil, bean idea. I might have some trouble with kitty but hours of quiet fun? Gotta try that!

    I make lentil soup every week. And throw all sorts of things in it. I think I'll post it on Mondays Recipes (that Colleen from Crazy 8 started). Super easy and very nutritious. The girls love it.

    :)

    ReplyDelete
  15. I've been wanting to do this with my DD. Looks like fun!

    I'd also love if you'd link to all the fun rainy-day activities in your sidebar. There's a lot of good ideas here.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Anonymous1/21/2010

    Oh mama, and you think they are not listening to you! I believe they have their teachers in stitches sharing words of wisdom from you :)

    wela

    ReplyDelete
  17. This looks like fun. For rainy days my solution with my daycare kids is to inflate the Jump-O-Lene, turn on some fast music and let them jump until they can't any more. Then I dump in a couple hundred plastic balls for them to roll in. This keeps them busy for nearly two hours and lets them get exercise!

    ReplyDelete
  18. Terrific idea! We love anything sensory!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Great idea! My daughter is downstairs right now playing with tapioca which is what I had around. I wonder if I'll get her out of the house to buy groceries!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Anonymous1/22/2010

    Suggestion:

    "Red Lentil and Vegetable Soup" at Goodhousekeeping.com

    EASY

    I think it would be good with some rice in it, too!

    ReplyDelete
  21. I think it's funny that one of the first things I noticed about the girls playing with the rice wasn't how much fun they're having, but that it wasn't "contained", lol. I kept thinking, "OMG, if I did that with my 3 year old, the rice would be in every nook and cranny of our house!". It's a fantastic idea that I've seen other friends utilize before though, so I need to figure out how to make it work.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Very fun! My daughter has a little plastic box of beans, bowls, cups, and scoops we use for physical therapy, but all the kids love to play with it. I usually end up sucking a few stray beans in the vacuum, but totally worth it!

    ReplyDelete