DIY Lavender Calming Rice
As a mom of two high energy kids, I know that there are certain times where you really need a way to help them calm down and unwind a bit. This is where sensory activities like this calming lavender rice work wonders. I was able to make this in less than 5 minutes and it gives us over an hour of uninterrupted, open ended play with each girl. Here’s the detail on how I made it!
How to Make Lavender Calming Rice
Start with just a package of white rice in a gallon size ziplock baggie. To create the purple color, I used the metallic purple color from this water color pack from Amazon (Here is the link). I used about a third of the tube, then sealed the bag and began mixing the paint throughout the rice with my hands.
I have made a wide variety of sensory activities using this watercolor paint set. It has a huge variety of colors and has never had any color transfer onto the kids hands.
Once the color was fully mixed through the rice, I added the lavender essential oils. 3-4 drops will give you a beautiful smell that is not overpowering. Just a little tip we learned through experience- if you leave your rice out for multiple days and do not store in an air tight container, it will begin to lose its scent. You can simply add it to a ziplock baggy and drop in a few more lavender drops to bring it back! If you do not have lavender essential oils on hand, here is the brand we use.
We’ve also recently added some new wooden toys to our sensory bin and the girls really enjoyed them. Here is the link for the wooden toys. The wood bin is from Hobby Lobby!
