# Tropical Fruits Sensory Rice > Scent and color plain white rice with watermelon, mango, pineapple and coconut flavors, then set it in a bin with dollar-store luau props for scooping, pouring and pretend tropical drinks. The rice is scented, not food. - URL: https://www.funlittles.com/sensory-activities-for-kids-tropical-fruits-sensory-rice-recipe/ - Ages: 2–6 yrs · Difficulty: easy · Mess: medium - Time: prep 40 min, activity 30 min - Works for: one-on-one, small group, whole class · one batch serves about 2 kids - Skills: sensory-exploration, scent-exploration, fine-motor, pretend-play, colors - Cautions: food-dye, nuts, ingestion-risk ## Materials (one batch) - 3 bag Plain white rice - 4 piece Large plastic zip-top baggies - Liquid watermelon Kool-Aid - Watermelon JELL-O (optional) - 2 envelope Mango drink mix - Mango JELL-O (optional) - Pineapple JELL-O - Pineapple Kool-Aid (optional) - 4 tbsp Liquid watercolors (red and yellow) - Unsweetened coconut flakes - White icing or white food color (optional) - Cookie sheets or flat trays (household) - Wax paper (household) - 1 piece Large clear plastic bin - Coconut drink containers - Mini plastic shot glasses - 1 piece Toy shovel or scoop - Palm tree and flamingo drink stirrers (optional) - Plumeria flower hair clips (optional) - Party straws (optional) - Clear plastic bowls and serving spoons (optional) (household) ## Substitutions - Instead of mango drink mix: Mango Kool-Aid or Mango JELL-O mix (Suggested by the author. Go easy on gelatin powder to avoid sticky rice.) - Instead of watermelon kool aid: Watermelon JELL-O (Suggested by the author. Too much gelatin powder makes sticky rice.) - Instead of cookie sheets: Dinner plates in the microwave for 30 seconds (The author did this and could use the rice right away, but drying overnight gives the easiest, driest, most scoopable rice.) ## Safety - Not food: the rice smells fruity and 'yummy', but dyed raw rice is not for eating. Supervise kids who still mouth things. - Dry rice and small props (mini shot glasses, plumeria hair clips, straws) are choking hazards. Supervise toddlers closely and keep rice away from noses and ears. - The bin includes unsweetened coconut flakes. Check for coconut and tree-nut allergies first, or leave the coconut out. - Drink stirrers are thin and can be pointy. Watch for poking. - Liquid watercolor and drink mix can stain hands and clothes until the rice is fully dry. Let it dry completely before play. - If you use the microwave to dry the rice, an adult handles it because the plates and rice can get hot. ## Before you start - Pick up rice and tropical party props (coconut cups, mini shot glasses, stirrers, plumeria clips, shovels, straws) from the dollar store. - Color and scent each batch of rice in its own zip-top bag. - Spread the rice on wax-paper-lined cookie sheets and let it dry overnight. ## Steps 1. Pour about half a bag of plain white rice into a large zip-top bag, one bag per scent. 2. Watermelon: squirt in liquid watermelon Kool-Aid and 2 tbsp red liquid watercolor, seal and shake until all the rice is colored. 3. Mango: add 2 envelopes of mango drink mix and 2 tbsp yellow liquid watercolor, then shake. 4. Pineapple: add a little pineapple JELL-O powder and shake. Don't overdo it or the rice gets sticky. 5. Coconut: mix unsweetened coconut flakes into plain white rice, add a few squirts of white icing for a brighter white, and shake. 6. Spread each color on a wax-paper-lined cookie sheet and let it dry overnight. 7. Lay the four rice colors in stripes in a large bin. 8. Add the coconut cups, mini glasses, shovel, stirrers and plumeria flowers. 9. Scoop, pour and mix the colors into 'tropical punch rice'. 10. Make pretend drinks, shakes and party platters. ## Tips - Going overboard with the gelatin powder will result in a very sticky rice! Use a light hand with the JELL-O. - Our mango drink mix gave us an uncharacteristically orange color, so adding yellow liquid watercolor gave a better color. It was fine because we wanted it a bit different from the pineapple yellow. - Line the cookie sheet with wax paper so the rice doesn't stick. - Let it dry overnight for the best experience with easy, dry, scoopable rice. In a hurry? Thirty seconds in the microwave on dinner plates let us use it right away. - The dollar store's tropical party aisle is a goldmine: coconut drink containers, mini shot glasses, plumeria hair clips, stirrers, shovels and cute straws. - Obviously playtime means MIXING! The first thing ours did was mix all the rice into tropical punch rice, so set up the pretty stripes knowing they won't last. - A shovel is great for little ones who love scooping and making 'milk shakes'. ## The original post by TurkeyMom (2014) Bring the tropical fruits home with this scented, fruity sensory rice recipe. Summer is almost there and it's time for all-day play time to begin! One of our kids' favorite activities are sensory activities. This time last summer we were incesantly talking about our upcming summer vacation to Hawaii. It has been an year and the children talk about it! So I presented them with a fun new sensory activity with all the scents from hawaii- Tropical fruits sesory bin pretty much Aloha spirit in a box. We recently made our mango playdough and this sensory acvitity would possibly be an extensioj of it. Bring in all the fruits not just mango and make a giant bin out of it We have here mango rice, coconut rice, watermelon rice and pine apple rice nicely presented because mom here just loved the rice just as much as the kids. So when the kids are away at preschool mom does this ! My trip to the dollar store made me go crazy with the tropical party supplies. I picked up so many goodies from there - coconut drink containers, mini shot glasses for scooping, pouring and making concoctions, our plumeria hair clips, drink stirrers, shovels and cute straws. The colors and scents of the rice were out of this world! The props just complimented the rice beautifully. I can't get over how cute this coconut shell drink container is. The plumerias scattered around gave it a very tropical feeling is the scents were not enough! Apart from the mini glasses, I placed a shovel just for my 3 year old who loves scooping and making "milk shakes" Well the trees and birds stirrers were perfect background for the sensory bin. And there they are! The first thing they did ofcourse were to mix all the rice to make tropical punch rice Many drinks were made. ( tiny umbrellas would have made the drinks even more festive!) Party platters were created. Competing party platters I must add. Special watermelon mango drink from the 3 year old. I can't decice which was more prettier? The mixed up tropical punch rice or the individually laid out rice. Obviously playtime means MIXING! Hope you all make this yummy sensory rice and enjoy this fun sensory activity with your kids. ### Recipe for tropical fruits sensory rice *Watermelon Rice, Mango Rice, Pineapple Rice and Coconut Rice* **Materials** - **[Liquid Watermelon Kool-Aid](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00J8NGRES/?tag=blmemo-20) (or)** - **[Watermelon JELL-O](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B006311NS8/?tag=blmemo-20)** - **[Mango Drink Mix](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B006UT0NRA/?tag=blmemo-20) (or)** - **[Mango JELL-O](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B007UGTH6A/?tag=blmemo-20)** - **[Pineapple Kool-Aid](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JD792DM/?tag=blmemo-20) (or)** - **[Pineapple JELL-O](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B007OK8Z6U/?tag=blmemo-20)** - **White Food Color** - **[Plastic Baggies](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00I9JK8GU/?tag=blmemo-20)** - **[Liquid Watercolors](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0042SWTUU/?tag=blmemo-20)** I used up 3 small bags of plain white rice from the dollar store for the 4 scents. We did mango, pineapple, coconut and watermelon. Use half a bag of rice and transfer the contents into a large plastic baggie (Ziploc) **Watermelon Rice** I squirted liquid Kool-Aid (product link above in the materials section)into the bag along with 2 table spoons of red liquid watercolor for a more intense colors and shook the bag until all the rice was colored. You can also use Watermelon Jello (product link above in the materials section) **Mango Rice** I used the same drink mix we used for our mango playdough recipe. You can also use Mango Kool-Aid or Mango JELLO mix. (product link above in the materials section) I used 2 envelopes of the mango drink mix to scent the rice. I also added 2 tablespoons of yellow liquid watercolor. Our mango drink mix gave us an uncharacteristically orange color so adding the liquid watercolor gave us a better color. It was fine because we wanted it to be a bit different than the pineapple yellow. **Pineapple Rice:** For this I used pineapple Jello (product link above in the materials section) to scent the rice. This one is tricky since going overboard with the gelatin powder will result in a very sticky rice! Follow the tips and tricks by [**Fun-A-Day on their scented rice post**.](http://fun-a-day.com/colorful-scented-rice-using-jell-o/) **Coconut Rice** For this fragrant rice, I added *unsweetened coconut flakes* from the grocery store to plain white rice. To make the white a more intense white, I added squirts of white icing (product link above in the materials section) After you make all the baggies of colored rice, lay them all out in cookie sheets of flat trays to let them dry. Line the cookie sheet with wax paper so that the rice doesn't stick. I microwaved the rice for 30 seconds on dinner plates and was able to use the rice right away. The best way to do it is to let it dry overnight for the best experience with easy, dry, scoopable rice. For a basic tutotial or dying rice or dying anything visit [**Fun At Home with Kids for their colored rice tutorial.**](http://www.funathomewithkids.com/2013/03/making-colored-rice-liquid-watercolors.html) **Thanks for reading** Feel free to pin this Looking for preschool play ideas?