How to Dye Rice (Without Vinegar or Rubbing Alcohol)

Have you ever wondered how to dye rice without stinky vinegar or rubbing alcohol? This quick and easy method is how we’ve made rice for years, and it is gorgeous.

How to dye rice - three bottles of liquid watercolor (pink, purple, and yellow) sit on top of dyed rice.

Come learn how to dye rice for sensory play

For millions and billions of years, people have been dyeing rice for sensory play with stinky vinegar and rubbing alcohol.

While that method works, nobody likes the smell while it’s made, and adding vinegar or rubbing alcohol adds an unnecessary step.

We have been dyeing our rice with one ingredient forever, and once you try this method, you’ll never go back! Introducing…liquid watercolors.

Related: Liquid watercolors are super fun for painting in our GIANT 10-foot coloring page banners, too!

Two hands hold dyed, colorful rice over a baking sheet full of rice. The colors of the rice are lime green, yellow, pink, and purple.

How to dye rice with liquid watercolors

Liquid watercolors are a love of my preschool-and-art-teacher life, and they make PERFECT dyed rice every single time.

With liquid watercolors, you can transform plain white rice into inviting, colorful, engaging sensory heaven!

And as an added plus, liquid watercolors and rice dry so quickly that this isn’t an activity you must plan far in advance. In only 10-15ish minutes after dyeing rice, it’s ready to play with.

Looking for more awesome rice activities? We love these:

Funnels and Rice – A Perfect Sensory Bin – Busy Toddler
Rainbow Rice I-Spy Bottle – You Clever Monkey
Animal Habitat Mini Sensory Tubs – The Imagination Tree

Materials

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Rice
Liquid watercolors
Zippered plastic bag – I use a gallon size
Shallow tray – Such as a baking sheet

A zippered bag is held open and inside is white rice. Colored rice sits on a tray next to the bag. An opened bag of white rice sits in the background.

Directions

Friends, this is SO EASY to make!

First, add a cup or two of rice into your zippered bag.

Next, add a splash of liquid watercolors – just eyeball about a tablespoon to start. Zip closed and ensure it’s securely zipped, or the rice will fly. (Ask me how I know, haha!)

Now, shake it up! As you shake the bag, the liquid watercolors and rice will mix and the rice will become gorgeous and colorful right before your eyes.

Troubleshooting:

My rice is TOO WET: Add more dry rice.
My rice is TOO DRY/not colorful enough: Add more liquid watercolors.

You can’t mess it up. 😉

Once your rice is to your liking, pour it into a shallow tray. Every few minutes, break it up with your hands. In maybe 10-15 minutes, your rice will be dry and ready to go!

Note 1: It’s very, very hot where we live in the summer, and when we dye rice outside between June and September, it takes maybe 2 minutes for it to be dry and ready to go.

Note 2: You don’t need to use a new bag for each color. If you need to rinse the bag between colors, you can. I don’t rinse it out when I am using colors that won’t get muddy (ex: red, magenta, purple, blue).

A hand holds a zippered bag that has both rice and pink liquid watercolors inside. The bag is zipped and being shaken.

Video

Do you need vinegar to dye rice?

You sure don’t!

We love vinegar and use it all the time, from lemon volcanoes to sizzling science pumpkins, but when you use liquid watercolors, you can completely omit this ingredient.