Lavender Rice Sensory Play

I was looking for an activity that would calm down an agitated Wugs following a couple of vaccinations he received earlier in the week, when I came across the idea of adding essential oils to rice. 

What we used:

Rice

Lavender essential oil

Purple food colouring
Distilled white vinegar

Plastic freezer bag

Cloud-patterned pom poms 

Scoops

I added about 3 cups of rice to a plastic freezer (Ziploc) bag together with a few drops of purple food colouring, a few drops of vinegar (the vinegar helps to bring out the colour of the dye) and a drop or two of lavender essential oil.  I was careful not to make it too overpowering.  I was looking for other calming objects to add to the rice.  I found some cloud-patterned poms poms and put these in the tub together with scoops and small containers for Wugs to transfer the rice into.  Whether it was the lavender or just the distraction of playing with rice, I found the activity settled his mood.