How to dye beans for your sensory table

Hello everyone! Kristen here from A Day In First Grade. This morning I was dying beans for my new group of kindergarteners and thought I would write a quick tutorial on how I dyed them. This sensory bin is all about COLOR and therefore I wanted them to be super vibrant.

To do this, I went the grocery store (I went to Whole Foods) and bought the beans in bulk. (It's cheaper this way-- plus Whole Foods has awesome bulk containers that I use over and over again!)

I ended up buying:

3 containers of yellow lentils (because they were on sale)

2 containers of navy beans

2 containers of lima beans

and 2 containers of white kidney beans

I could have bought all the same beans but I wanted a variety in texture, size, and shape to encourage that conversation while the kids are playing.

To dye the beans you will need rubbing alcohol, ziplock baggies (freezer size),  baking trays, parchment paper, and some sort of dye. Personally I like to use liquid watercolor as it creates a super vibrant color but food coloring works too. If you are using food coloring, I have had the most success using the gel colors.

Making the beans took me about 30 minutes and when you use rubbing alcohol, they dry pretty quickly.

If you would like to see how to dye the beans, click here to head over to my blog!