With this simple colored rice mosaic art activity, kids of any age can create mosaics! This activity will keep kids busy for hours, teach them patience, and help to improve fine motor skills and creativity! Use this art activity in a classroom setting or at home, it only requires a few materials. You also can use the leftover rice for sensory play and other activities.
Easy Rice Mosic Art Activity
This colored rice mosaic art activity is easy to prepare, it’s reusable for more art and sensory play or made into permanent art projects with some glue and paper. This art activity focuses on developing fine motor skills but it is also a fun sensory experience that teaches patience and attention to detail. Most of all this art activity encourages creative ideas and focus.
Try this rice activity as well!
Anyone of any age can make these colorful rice mosaics. It only requires a few simple steps to prepare the rice and some creativity! You can make as many mosaics as you want by reusing the rice or create a permanent art project by gluing the rice to paper. If handling the rice is too tricky, you can use tools like tweezers, scoops, or toothpicks to make this activity easier.
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Supplies Needed for Rice Mosaic
- Paper Bowls or Plates
- Rubbing Alcohol
- Food Coloring/Dye
- Paper Towels
- Baking sheet or a bin (Optional, helps with cleanup)
- Paper and Glue to make permanent art projects (Optional)
- Tweezers, scoops, and other tools to make it easier (Optional)
If you don’t have rubbing alcohol, try this recipe
Steps to Make Colorful Rice
- Pour rice in bowls
- Cover the rice in rubbing alcohol
- Add food coloring or dye and mix
- Dry the rice (Use the paper towels to absorb extra rubbing alcohol)
- Create your mosaics!
Tips for Creating Rice Mosaic Patterns
- Have kids start with using fingers on a surface like a baking sheet. They can experiment how dropping small amounts of colored rice on the sheet can then be manipulated with their fingers by spreading and separating too.
- Add tools like small scoops, cups and utensils to fine tune the separations between colors.
- If you want to jump into creating mosaic art, then start with a piece of construction paper, poster board or even a canvas and glue. Kids will see that this approach will be different as it isn’t as easy to move colored sections after they are added to an area. They can also notice how glue can be applied to an area of a desired color and then the excess is removed before adding another color block.
Need mosaic ideas? Check out this Pinterest board
More Art Activities from Kids Activities Blog
What mosaics did you create? Tell us in the comments below!
