This started as a way to use up a batch of rainbow rice that had been sitting around for months. A handful of little magnetic fish tucked into the rice, a magnetic rod to catch them with, and a quiet sensory bin turns into a fishing game. It works just as well as a calm scoop-and-pour tray or as a proper hunt for the fish hiding in the color, and it is at its best outdoors where the spilled rice does not matter. Ages 1.5 to 3.
What you need
- Rainbow rice. To make it, stir a little food coloring through dry white rice, a different color per batch, spread it out to dry, then mix the colors together. It keeps for months in a jar.
- A few magnetic toy fish and a magnetic fishing rod. The kind from a simple fishing game is fine, and any small magnetic rod will do if the one in the set is fiddly.
- A shallow tub for the rice, set inside a larger tray to catch the spills.
- A few scoops, cups, and spoons.
Setting it up
Tip the rainbow rice into the tub and bury the magnetic fish through it so a few are hidden and a few peek out. Lay the rod and the scoops alongside. That is the whole setup, and it takes about a minute.
Fishing, scooping, and pouring
The fishing is the headline, and catching a fish on the magnet is genuinely satisfying, but do not be surprised if it is not the main event. A scoop often wins out over the rod for a younger child, who would rather dig the fish up and tip them from cup to cup. Both are good. The rod works the hand and the patience, while the scooping and pouring is all wrist and grip and the quiet pleasure of moving rice from one container to another.
Letting the rice run through your fingers and pour back into the tub is the bit that tends to hold a small child longest. The fish almost become an afterthought to the feel of the rice itself, which is exactly what you want from a sensory tray.
For another colorful, hands-on activity for the same age, our color surprise playdough hides a blob of paint inside white dough for a squashing surprise. And to keep the underwater theme going on paper, our free mermaid coloring pages carry the fish and ocean idea onto a coloring sheet.