We had the exact same thing happen at our house! I could not shake all of the water out, hard as I tried. My husband took them out to his workshop and using a small drill bit drilled a hole in each one. There is a hole in them, the problem is that there is an indentation and the hole is in there, not at the bottom of the animal or person. (We dumped our whole zoo in the tub!) So he drilled holes at the bottom, in the foot, so the water can drain out. Then I could pretty much shake it all out and we have a customized set of Little People. ;) I hadn't heard about the rice. Would have tried that first!