Spooning colored rice

This is a little rice spooning exercise out on the Practical Life shelves for March.  I found the St. Patrick's Day votive holder at my local thrift store and colored some plain white rice green for the spooning medium.  To color the rice, I just dumped some into a ziploc bag and squirted some green food coloring into the bag.  Then I worked it with my fingers until the grains were tinted green.  Some are more green than others, but I like the varigated effect this produces.  The children have to be very careful when spooning so they don't spill the rice onto the tray.  It's a great activity for developing focus and concentration as well as fine motor control.

 

Seasonal votive holders are great receptacles for Practical Life activities.  Keep your eyes open at the thrift store, garage sale, or flea market...........you are sure to find some treasures for a great price that can find a home on your shelves one day!

Comments

[anne]

Hey Laura!

I have two things to tell you:

First, I haven't had the pipe cleaner and bead lesson out for awhile, so I set it out today - green pipe cleaners with little red beads on a precious strawberry tray. And, wouldn't you know it, 10 minutes into the work period, one of my 3-year-olds got one of the beads stuck up her nose! We got it out (eventually), but I thought it was funny and wanted to tell you about it for some reason! Obviously, I really do need to find some big (as in bigger than a nostril) flower beads like yours!

Second, your rainbow pipe cleaner lesson is going to make its debut tomorrow morning! Yay!

Anne

[qudsya]

Wow... ever since i joined this bloging world i am constantly amazed by the efforts of creative and sensetive women/moms like you .Just found your blog two days ago and now its all over me....i am reading it both ways from oldest to latest and from latest to oldest :) ....cant help it. this one blog seem to have all the answers of my quaries about montessory philosophy and how to use it at home with my LO,I started my blog for very different reasons it was more like keeping an online gernal also i thought it would keep me motivated to do creative and wholesome activities to nurture my baby in a better way BUT what i here is beyond my wildest Imagination.... it has even started motivating me to nurture my creativity as well (I am a textile/interior designer by profession and learned how to sew a long long time ago) just tried a hand on crayon holder that you mentioned in the begining of your blog with a bit of variation (to make it more practical for my 25 month old) will put up a post soon :)
I think now this is getting too long
what I actually wanted to say was that I am trully, deeply impressed by what you are doing
Thanks so so much

[Elizabeth Ping]

I love the colored rice! I know that I would have loved that when I was little! Nice votive holder!

[Jamie]

Love it! My kids will love the 'project' as much as the sound of the rice in the bowl. I need to go along on all of your posts and just add love it, love it, love it. We love all of your activities!

Happy March, I hope you had a great weekend!