Rainbow chickpeas for sensory play are a fun, engaging and cost effective way for your little one to explore different concepts during this sensory activity. This activity lends itself to skills such as scooping, colour sorting, transferring and much more. The best part is, once you’re done playing, you can store the chickpeas in an container and use them time and time again!
What do I need to make rainbow chickpeas?
You need to buy as many bags of dehydrated chickpeas as you feel like you need to fill the space you will be using for your sensory play.
I use the Ikea Flisat sensory table and was happy with two bags of chickpeas.
You also need some paint to colour your chickpeas. For this, I used the Kmart Anko brand acrylic pastel paints, found in the children’s craft section of Kmart. They come in a small 4 pack and I loved the pastel colours.
How to colour the chickpeas for sensory play?
In a zip bag (you could also use a container for this), add the quantity of chickpeas you wish to colour and a few blobs of paint.
Seal the bag or container and shake vigorously until the paint has covered all the chickpeas.
Line a baking tray or a chopping board with baking paper and spread the wet, painted chickpeas out to dry. They shouldn’t take too long to dry.
Once they are dry, you may need to separate some chickpeas that have stuck together with the wet paint.
Repeat this process with all the different colours you want to use and make sure they are all dry before you mix them with the other colours.
Watch your little one enjoy this simple sensory activity!
You might like to provide small bowls and some scooping utensils to make this activity even more beneficial for your child.
The great thing about this activity is it can be stored when your child has finished playing with it and you can bring it back out time and time again for them to enjoy.
As always with sensory play activities like this, you need to make sure you are closely supervising the activity. I would also be hesitant to use this activity with young toddlers and babies who are still in the ‘everything goes in my mouth’ phase. Using vinegar and food dye can be a safer method of colouring your dried beans if this is something that worries you.
Read more about sensory play here.