Create and Craft - Festival of Rice

May 2026

Festival of Rice is a new festival for Unley. In recognition of the Unley in Harmony program, Festival of Rice is a celebration of culture, community and the world’s most consumed ingredient - rice.

One of the events in the lead up to this event was out Festival of Rice Storytime. Below you can find a video demonstrating a craft activity that we made in this session, a free downloadable craft template, and links to books you can borrow from the library that explore themes of rice, food, and multiculturalism!

	My rice is best Selina Brown & Maxwell A Oginni Shane is convinced that nothing beats a big, delicious bowl of rice and peas -- it's the best rice in the world! But when he brings his favourite meal to school, he discovers that his friend Yinka is just as passionate about her jollof rice. What follows is a hilarious and heartfelt showdown to settle the age-old question: which rice reigns supreme? Request a copy via our catalogue
	Umami Jacob Grant Umami is tired of eating cold fish. But fish is what the penguins eat. Fish for every meal and birthdays too. To find new exciting foods, Umami adventures across the sea and discovers flavors and spices that are inspiring! She has to share them. But will the other penguins share her love for these different foods? Request a copy via our catalogue
	Soy sauce! Laura G. Lee Salty, savory, rich, and even sweet, soy sauce is as fascinating to make as it is delicious to eat! Luan makes a classic Chinese soy sauce. Haru uses his own recipe at his family's traditional Japanese brewery. And Yoo-mi's Korean soy sauce features special ingredients to make it spicy and sweet. With unique ingredients that reflect different Asian cultures, and a brewing process that can take years, even decades, soy sauce holds deep meaning and flavorful history in every drop. Using lyrical text, vibrant watercolors, and real soy sauce as paint, this book is an imaginative celebration of the iconic kitchen staple and the magical ways food connects family and friends across the world. Request a copy via our catalogue
	Stay for dinner Sandhya Parappukkaran & Michelle Pereira Reshma loves dinnertime with her family. Her family eat with their hands - not just finger food type-eating, but hands-on squishy eating. When she's invited to stay for dinner at her friends' places, she finds out that they all eat in different ways. Some go ting ting with their cutlery, and others go click clack with their chopsticks. So what will her friends say when they see her family eat with their hands? Request a copy via our catalogue
	The leftover lemon dilemma Dannielle Viera and Paula Deuber When Mandy finds herself with an abundance of sour lemons, she finds a way to turn them into something sweet - with a little help from her neighbours. Request a copy via our catalogue
	A taste of home Maryam Hassan & Anna Wilson A scrumptious celebration of the connection between family, friends and food, to empower little ones to be proud of where they come from.  Request a copy via our catalogue
	India of a plate! : Indian food from A to Z Archana Sreenivasan This introduction to the alphabet showcases food from every corner of India, including spicy achaar and sweet zafrani pulao Request a copy via our catalogue
	Spicy spicy hot! Lenny Wen Lintang is determined to embrace the spice of sambal in order to connect with her Indonesian grandmother and heritage. Request a copy via our catalogue
	My little bento box Fiona Dulieu A new way to play with your food! Learn shapes, colours, and numbers by completing the adorable meals in these little bento boxes. Request a copy via our catalogue

And here is our Festival of Rice craft.

Download the templates:

Storytime-Festival-of-Rice-craft-template.pdf(PDF, 9MB)

For this craft you will need:

• Printed template
• A4 coloured card/paper
• One strip of coloured paper/card/stripping roll
• Scissors
• Glue Stick
• Sticky tape
• Textas or pencils for colouring in

Directions:

• Fold your A4 coloured card in half and cut it to A5 size.
• Cut out your take-away box template, following the directions on the template - cut out the outline, then carefully cut along the dotted line.
• Fold the flap open and glue the body of the box to the A5 card.
• Cut out your ingredients with scissors.
• Using the glue stick, stick each ingredient into the box to make your fried rice.
• Close the flap and decorate your box with your coloured pencils, crayons or textas..
• Add the handle by cutting the strip of coloured paper to the length you would like and taping the ends to the top of the box.

Now you have some yummy fried rice in a takeaway box!

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