Measuring is a great learning activity! You get to compare different sizes of measuring cups, fill containers, and feel this amazing rice!

The first step is to make the rice itself. You will need rice, Kool-Aid, ziplock bags (the freezer kind work the best), rubbing alcohol, parchment paper, and a cookie sheet.

Place one cup of rice into a ziplock bag. Add 1/2 tsp Kool-Aid powder to the rice, then 1 tsp rubbing alcohol. Seal up the bag and start shaking! It takes a moment to shake it enough to disperse the color to all of the rice, but you will start to see your rice change colors. You can also massage the bag to help the color get to all of the rice.

Once it looks like all of the rice has color, carefully open the bag and dump the rice onto a cookie sheet. Repeat the process with more rice and Kool-Aid. I found I could even do 2 cups at a time, adding a full packet of Kool-Aid and 2 tsp rubbing alcohol.

Continue to mix and dump until you have made as much rice as you want. I made 6 cups altogether, and it fit nicely on a cookie sheet. Spread the rice out so that it is in as thin of a layer as possible. Then leave it for about 6 hours to dry. Or, if you are impatient like I am, you can set your oven to 200 degrees and put the rice in the oven for 1 hour. You will want to mix it around about every 15 minutes to make sure all of it is getting dry.

Once your rice is dry, you are ready to play! Find a container to hold your rice – I used a bin from the dollar store. Gather some measuring cups, measuring spoons, containers to fill, funnels, and anything else you might want to try in the rice. Time to play! How many cups of rice fit in your containers? Can you use smaller cups to fill bigger cups? How many small cups does it take to fill your containers? Does the rice work through a funnel? Experiment with your cups and containers and see what you can discover!

You can do this same activity with beans, sand, noodles, or even water. What other materials would you like to try? Can you compare how heavy a cup of rice and a cup of beans are? The possibilities are endless! Enjoy you fun measuring activity. When you are finished, store the rice in a ziplock bag to use later. There are many activities you can do with colored rice!