Fun with Dyed Rice

My great friend Kira tried this activity with little Lily Grace and it was such a fantastic hit she suggested that I give it a try.

There are 2 things that threw me a curve ball with this activity 1) taking a picture to capture the moment and 2) my fear of messes.
First of all, I’m not good about taking pictures during Grayson’s craft/art/fun time. I think the activities are not only fun for Grayson, but for me as well…and he enjoys it so much more that I get involved too. We honestly have such a hoot together, giggling, playing and bonding that having a camera handy never even enters my brain. But this time I decided to take a picture, knowing Kira had taken a picture so we could compare messes.

That brings me to item #2. No one reading this will gasp when I say I am a neat freak. To be fair, I used to be a lot worse before Grayson arrived and I’ve relaxed a bit (though I've hired a maid to fill in my gaps).
Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE dirty activities for Grayson and he likes them too. But there’s a time and a place for everything and for me, that’s outside for messy activities. Even though he’s only 17 months, I want him to be raised in a clean environment and when he’s 3 (or 5 or 10) I want him to understand from the beginning that it’s not ok to throw the kidney beans from our bucket any which way he wants or smash playdoh into the wood floors. So because the weather has turned chilly, I cautiously ventured into the realm of potentially messy activities, inside the house.

Here he is, playing with the dyed rice (such an easy recipe too! Email me and I’ll let you know what Kira and I used). Grayson really enjoyed the sorting and scooping and the rice was a great colorful contrast to our usual items like sand, kidney beans, pasta, etc.

And as if I didn’t know my child at all….make sure to look at the last picture. It’s Grayson, grabbing a huge handful and throwing it. Notice this was the last picture too, because after that, I put my dumb camera down and decided to have fun with him like usual, commencing our giggles and enjoyment together. All in all, it was pretty fun and a great alternative but I’ll save the winter water balloon activities for the bath. :-) Thanks again for the great idea Kira and Lily!

Getting it all prepped...

Let the fun begin!