Valentines Day Sensory Bin with DIY Dyed Beans

Which way was the better way to dye our beans? For our Valentine’s Day sensory play I tried two method of dying our white beans. Which dyed option did we decide was best for our Valentine’s Day sensory play?

Today we decided to do a little comparison. We tried two methods to color white beans for our Valentine’s Day sensory bin.

Option 1- acrylic paint
Option 2 – water color paint (the way I dye my rice and pasta)

You can see in the first picture the differences on the color. Beans, unlike rice and pasta, are not a very absorbent material. The water color and alcohol actually look like they broke down the first layer of the bean. The bonus part of the skin flaking off of the bean? Miles really enjoyed picking the skin off and throwing it away. I guess that is his fine motor skill practice for the day and our real life practices for the day.

The acrylic paint just sits on top of the bean and was more vibrant. The paint was flaking off a bit onto the scoops. Not as bad as I anticipated but enough to annoy me. Color transferring onto our natural wooden spoons are the main reason why we do not use food coloring on our DIY dyed projects.

To make the dyed beans, I added 1 cup of beans to a zip lock bag and added one squirt of acrylic paint. Shake shake shake! Same method for the water color paint but I also added 1 teaspoon of rubbing alcohol to help the water color paint stick.

Conclusion- I think I’ll stick to rice and pasta when dying colors and keep beans au natural. There are many variants of beans out there that provide different colors and different textures!

To see how I dye my rainbow pasta and rice click here!