Our rice bin was made up of a plastic bin, a 5 pound bag of rice, and miscellaneous plastic toys and containers. We played on a trash bag cut so it would lay flat.
We had a little spill over onto the floor but it was easily cleaned up. One of the things M liked doing the most was filling up a small tupperware cup and dumping it back into the bin.
The container I used has a snap on lid so I'm hoping we can reuse the rice bin multiple times. In the future I might add something to it, like lentil beans or small pieces of pasta, to change the textures. If our little plastic pool had still been out I think I would have put the rice bin in the pool, which would have made for super fast and easy clean up. I'll also add different toys since M really enjoyed "digging them up."
Some things we used were plastic building blocks, plastic toy figures, small plastic cups, magnetic letters, and some old baby links that we haven't used in quite a while. Other things that might be good- measuring cups, measuring spoons, little trucks to drive through the rice (M would love that), buttons, rocks, Easter eggs, cooking utensils, etc. You can also use food coloring to change the color of the rice (be sure to let it dry) and I think you might even be able to buy colored rice at some places. This was similar to our cornmeal beach and jello bowl activities that we tried months ago. I love these types of hands on sensory activities because M loves exploring so much. You can do this type of "sensory bin" with a variety of things - jello, cornmeal, rice, beans, shaving cream, soapy water, confetti, macaroni, ice (great for a hot day), etc. It's fun and easy and toddlers love it!
