Pasta and kids crafts seem to go hand in hand. But macaroni noodles only get you so far before your sanity needs you to branch out and try something different (or maybe that’s just me?) Dying pasta bright colors is a great way to spice up your “noodle craft” activities!
We focused on playing with the noodles themselves today, which I’ll describe more below. But once Leah looses interest in sorting and counting games, you better believe these bright little guys will be used for some awesome crafts!
Make your own colored pasta
It’s really easy to do! All you need is white vinegar, food coloring, and pasta. I’ve also seen this done with rubbing alcohol too, but vinegar seemed a lot less toxic to me.
You can check out Teaching Tiny Tots and Happy Hooligans for more dyed pasta ideas.
I used 6 different shapes of pasta:
Take 1 tsp of vinegar and put it into a zip lock bag. I know it doesn’t sound like much, but it goes way further than you think. Add 20 drops of food colouring to get a nice strong color:
Add about 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup of uncooked pasta noodles to the bag:
And give it a good shake:
Let the bags sit for about 10 minutes, give them another shake and then let them sit for another 10 minutes:
Pour the pasta onto waxed paper or parchment paper to let them dry:
We got busy with other things and left the noodles for 4 hours and they were completely dry by the time we got back to them.
I was shocked, but Leah LOVED this. She loved helping me dye the pasta, but she also loved playing with the colored noodles!
We did sorting activities:
Matching activities:
Pattern activities:
Counting activities:
Sequence activities:
And of course, she loved picking them up in handfuls and putting them into piles. They really are a neat little tactile experience.
And when you think about how to use them for crafts, there are so many more possibilities!
I didn’t think this would be so much of a hit, but it worked out wonderfully for my 3 year old. She loved making it, and she loved playing with it, which probably makes this the best toddler activity we’ve done so far!
Here’s even more ways to use colored pasta:
Thx for the idea! I’m going to try this with MY 3 year-old. I’ve been looking for some things to do with her lately because spring is so long in coming where we live. We need some new activities!
If you are looking for new activities for your 3 year old you have to try this – baked cotton balls! https://onelittleproject.com/baked-cotton-balls/ My 3 year old had a blast doing these the other day!!
Love the vibrant colors and the easy to follow recipe. Just pinned!
Perfect for my Kindergarten class, and so pretty!! Thanks for sharing!
Krista @thehappyhousie
Beautiful colors ans so much fun! Thank you for sharing at Sharing Saturday!
How fun! I love your pictures! I’m going to have to try this with my kids. Thanks for sharing at Monday Funday.
Love this! Did the dye get on your hands at all while playing with the pasta?
Nope! And we played with them for months afterwards. As long as your hands are dry, the dye stays on the pasta.
How did you get the colors to be so vibrant & pastel-like? In the photos above, you have a picture of ziti that is true pink. Mine come our red.
I’d be so grateful for an answer!