Happy Spring! We’re kicking off the new season with this pastel-hued sensory bin. I made dyed rice once before on this blog, but this time I used Kool-Aid for more vibrant color; you can prepare batches exactly the same as for Kool-Aid Dyed Pasta.

After the rice dried, I set up with a bin with a few spring animals, a rake, and fake flowers, for a pretty pastel garden.

Travis immediately set to raking – he loves scooping through rice, no matter the theme! For this activity, we talked about how flowers grow in the spring, and he loved “planting” some in the rice. Then we decided we needed to fill up a watering can with the rice, which could then rain “April showers” down on the flowers. This went on for quite a while!

I also added plastic Easter eggs at one point, which were fun to scoop with, fill with rice to shake like maracas, and more.

Travis loved the way that the rice started out in 4 separate color piles, and then all mixed together.

Hopefully this helps make your first day of spring as joyful as ours was!