China is the world's largest producer of rice. And rice was first cultivated in China 8000-9000 years ago. To find out more than you ever wanted to know about rice, check out this UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) 2004 Year of Rice website.
I'd come across a handful of rice crafts in the last few weeks and this was a perfect opportunity to try them out. The two biggest inspirations were these posts on Momtastic and Mommy Labs. We made colorful rice and then used it for a couple of different projects. For the first, we made rice designs on paper. And for the second, we made a rainbow jar, filling up a glass jar with the rice.
For the rice designs on paper, we did a mix of different papers, first applying glue and then sprinkling the rice all around. Warning!: the glue stick we used was not sticky enough to hold the rice so many of our designs were temporary. Maybe Elmers glue would work better?
I'd come across a handful of rice crafts in the last few weeks and this was a perfect opportunity to try them out. The two biggest inspirations were these posts on Momtastic and Mommy Labs. We made colorful rice and then used it for a couple of different projects. For the first, we made rice designs on paper. And for the second, we made a rainbow jar, filling up a glass jar with the rice.
Supplies:
- rice (we used white rice)
- food coloring
- vinegar
- wax paper
- paper and glue and/or glass jar
Step One: Put 1 cup of rice in a baggie. Repeat for however many colors you want to make.
Step Two: Add a couple drops of food coloring and 1 TBS of vinegar.
Step Three: Mix until you all of the rice is covered and you have a color that you like.
Step Four: Dry on wax paper.
We transferred ours to bowls to make it easier to work with. Plus moving the rice around is half the fun!
For the rice designs on paper, we did a mix of different papers, first applying glue and then sprinkling the rice all around. Warning!: the glue stick we used was not sticky enough to hold the rice so many of our designs were temporary. Maybe Elmers glue would work better?
some on China coloring sheets that I had printed out
some design-your-own, where The Whirl Girl "drew" with the glue stick...
...sprinkled it with rice and then we shook off the rice to reveal her design.
We tried black, white and yellow papers to mix it up.
For the jar, The Whirl Girl filled up the jar with different layers of colors.
This was a great project. It was almost all hands-on and The Whirl Girl loved playing with the rice before, during and after she made her creations.
Jenika,
ReplyDeleteYour daughter's rice art is beautiful and loved how you transferred it to the glass bottle forming colourful layers.
Thank you for the link love. :)
About your idea to collaborate on India specific projects, I am game! It will be fun.
To take it a step further, the girls can even send/post (to each other) traditional letter/greeting card/magazine cuttings about each other's country. This is optional. If it's convenient. How about doing it on Oct 10, Monday? Or any other date that works for you?
Do let me know your thoughts. :)