Here is a cheap and fun art project that kids love. Colored Rice.

You will need:

• plain white rice
• rubbing alcohol
• food coloring
• empty glass jars

Pour the white rice into a bowl (not your best tupperware please). Pour rubbing alcohol over rice, enough to cover. Stir in food coloring until mixture reaches desired color. Make more bowls of different colors, as many as you like. Let set over night. (in the garage is best, I have found. If you leave these in your kitchen, the smell gets pretty intense).

The next morning, strain the rice from the alcohol. The rice has absorbed the food coloring. Spread rice out on newspaper covered cookie sheets and put in garage to dry; the remaining alcohol will evaporate. In a day or two, depending on the humidity of your garage, the rice will be dry. You may have to stir the rice a bit to speed up the drying.

Give the kids empty glass jars and let them layer the colored rice inside. If you have a baby in the house, baby food jars work great. It makes a mess, but at least its easy to sweep up. We also put a paper plate under the glass jars to catch most of the over spill.

We have done matched our rice colors to the season, added a few stickers and a fabric cover to the jar lid and given these as gifts to the grandparents. This project is great for toddlers too. Our little friend EB, who is barely 2, loves this one.