Rice Tree Craft

I saw this craft on a crafting website and thought it was so cute that we just had to do it! It is a tactile art project where you use items that the kids can feel after they are done with the picture.
The night before Craft Day, I made colored rice:

It was really easy. You put 1 teaspoon of water into a baggie, add in 6 - 8 drops of food coloring, pour in 1/2 cup white rice, and then seal the bag and move the rice around until it is completely colored. Then I poured it out onto wax paper & let it dry for about 1/2 hour. So easy!
We also needed construction paper (for the sky and sun), cotton balls (for the clouds), pipe cleaners (for the trees), and lots of glue.

First I showed them how to set up their pipe cleaners to look like a bare tree:

After they glued those on, they added glue to where they wanted the green grass. Then, when they were done with the grass, they put glue where they wanted the leaves. Then they mixed the red, orange, and yellow rice to make a fall tree.

They did a really good job getting all of that rice on there. Next they glued on their sun and pulled cotton balls apart to make wispy clouds. I think their pictures turned out really good!

After they were done, they went outside to play in the beautiful fall weather. They even decided to have a picnic with their snack:

I can't wait for more fall fun!!