I am an avid DIYer and a crafter at heart. When I see a new creative project on Pinterest or Instagram, I just have to try it! Scrapbooking, painting, stained glass, salt dough, homemade play dough, woodworking, homemade crayons, DIY soaps, resin letters, ornaments, colored sensory rice, and the list goes on!
The one area where I am constantly creating, is in homeschooling my children. I taught Kindergarten before deciding to stay home with them, and I just can’t help but create fun materials and activities for them to explore! It is, honestly, just as enjoyable for me as it is for them!
My kids have been loving sensory bins for quite some time now, but I’ve mostly kept them pretty basic. Rice, water, or dried noodles are my go-to bases. Then, I usually spice it up with some fun add-ins to keep my littles exploring and imagining.
It wasn’t until recently that I decided to try my hand at DIY colored bases. I started with rice, and my kids went crazy! They loved all of the different colors and shades. From there I thought about trying to color a larger sensory base and my mind immediately went to chick peas.
We love beans as a versatile base and have used black beans, lima beans, pinto beans and chick peas. The added texture makes for a great sensory experience, and the larger size means they are easier to manipulate for little hands. From a Mom perspective; they are a little bit easier to find and pick up when spilled all over the floor as well! Not that we ever have that happen…
The best part? Coloring chick peas is even easier than coloring rice! I know, right?! Here is what you will need to get started:
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Materials
- Chick peas
- Acrylic paint (kid-safe paint will work, but acrylic holds better)
- Ziploc bags
- Parchment paper
- A baking tray
How To
Get ready for this, because it will take less than 5 minutes!
- Gather all of your materials and line your baking tray with parchment paper
- Measure your chick peas into Ziploc bags – use a different bag for each color – I used 1 cup of chick peas per bag
- squeeze some paint into your bag and seal it tight! You will be shaking the bag and don’t need painted chick peas flying around your kitchen!
- Now, shake that bag and coat all of the chick peas evenly with paint. You may need to squish, tip and shake the bag to get everything coated. Add more paint if you want a deeper color.
- Open the bag and carefully pour your chick peas out onto the baking tray.
- Note: They began drying almost instantly, so use a toothpick to separate any that have begun to stick together.
- Repeat steps 3 – 5 with your remaining colors.
As I noted, the chick peas will dry almost instantly so you could use them in a sensory bin the same day. But I recommend leaving them on the baking tray overnight, just to ensure everything is completely dry before those little hands handle them!
Related: Have a kiddo going into Kindergarten? I’ve got your covered! Help them go into the school year with confidence!
That’s it!
How simple was that?! Truly the easiest and most exciting sensory base that I have created to date! And what I love, love, LOVE about these?! Unlike colored rice, when these colored chick peas get all mixed up you can create a color sorting activity for your kiddos and actually get them sorted back out!!! I know, I know, you’re welcome (wink, wink).
My littles have had so much fun with these babies! We’ve sorted, made ‘cupcakes’ in reusable liners, had rainbow play, used them as snowballs in our arctic sensory bin, and so much more!
So, grab some chick peas and get to coloring! Hours of fun await!
Looking for some more DIY fun to use your chick peas with? Check out our awesome Salt Dough Name Activity! Chick peas are the perfect filler for these beauties!
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