Finger Painting with Rice – A Sensory Dream

Some things just go better together: ketchup & mustard. Peanut butter & jelly. Paint & rice. No, seriously! Finger painting with rice is uh-mazing and a sensory dream come true.

An outstretched hand is covered in neon green paint and colorful rice.

Finger painting with rice = the ultimate sensory painting project

Simply adding rice into paint adds a whole new texture and element of pure sensory fun. We love an activity that can be kicked up a notch with one simple tweak. This, friends, is it.

Finger painting on its own? AWESOME.

But finger painting with rice in it? BEYOND AMAZING!

💙 Related: Try finger painting color mixing, too!

A child uses indigo colored paint for their finger painting with rice.

Why you should try finger painting with rice

We love this activity because you probably already have everything you need! We know that people (us, too!) are more likely to try activities when they can learn about them and immediately set them up themselves.

The bonus part is that they’re inexpensive and easy to find if you don’t have the materials right now.

Plus, this is an art activity AND a sensory activity, and we love two-for-ones.

💙 Looking for more sensory art projects? Try these, too!

Three sets of kids' hands are outstretched, palms up over their art. All three sets of hands are covered in paint and rice after doing finger painting with rice.

Materials

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Uncooked rice – we grabbed some of our dyed rice that we had on hand, but plain white rice works exactly the same!
Paint
Thick paper – cardstock, cardboard, and watercolor paper work great!
Wide, shallow bowls – we used pie tins

Note: We used dyed rice simply because it’s what we had on hand. The rice will get completely covered in paint, so plain rice works just as well.

A child uses their fingers to draw a heart and swirls in their green finger painting with rice painting.

How to do finger painting with rice

First, fill up your shallow bowl (or pie tin) with the rice and set it in the center of the table.
Next, provide each child with one piece of thick, white paper and add paint onto the paper. Invite your child to mix and spread the colors with their hands. With their fingers in the paint, can they draw circles? Lines? Their name?
Last, RICE! You can sprinkle rice directly onto the paper, or, my favorite way, invite your littles to stick their hands directly into the pie tin. When they lift their hands up, they’re all covered with rice, chaos will ensue, and it’s hilarious.
As your child mixes the rice into the paint, talk about how it looks, sounds, and feels. This activity activates several senses and it’s fun watching how they work together.

Stacks of colorful, dried finger painting with rice lay on top of one another. The paints are reds, oranges, blues, purples, and a green.

What does finger painting with rice look like when it’s dry?

It looks so cool! We use BioColor paint for most of our projects, and when this project dries, the rice dries in it and doesn’t fall off.

The kids love looking at their dried pieces and watching how the rice stays in place even when they shake it.

But, not all paints are created equally (I’m looking at you, tempera 👀 ). If you’re using tempera paint, or paint that you know flakes and peels when it dries, add some glue into the paint during the finger painting part and the rice should dry nicely on the paper.

Alternatively, you don’t have to keep your pieces!

Sometimes art is fun to make just for the sake of making it. For example, sometimes when we do art like this, we will do it on recycled cardboard box pieces and then toss them when we finish. That’s okay! This technique can teach kids that a paper doesn’t need to be collected and displayed for the art to have meaningful and fun!

Two kids' hands press into an orange panting sprinkled with rice while finger painting with rice.

Is finger painting a fine motor skill?

Yes, it is! Fine motor skills use small muscle movements and often involve the hands.

When kids do this activity, they use their hands and fingers to hold their papers, mix the paint, draw in the paint, grab the rice, etc. Fine motor, fine motor, fine motor!

A significant part of our curriculum, environment, and materials in preschool focus on fine motor skills.

Why are fine motor skills so important?

Fine motor skills are essential for all kinds of tasks, such as:

Writing and drawing
Using a fork or spoon
Brushing teeth
Zipping a jacket
Opening a door handle
Turning the pages of a book

Many acts of independence require our hands. For this reason, it’s exciting to provide children with many opportunities to make their hands strong and able to complete a variety of tasks.