This is something I've been thinking of making for a while, but kept putting off in favor of other things. But today I was out of other ideas and so I finally made it! I realized afterwards that
its actually a really versatile ingredient for a number of different activities, plus It's so simple to make and looks lovely and bright.
How to make Rainbow Pasta:
You will need -
Dry pasta of different shapes
Food coloring
Rubbing Alcohol (Isocol - available from pharmacies)
Zip lock bags
Baking paper and baking trays
First put about a tablespoon of the alcohol into a zip lock bag, and add some food coloring (I used around a teaspoon).
Then add the dry pasta, close up the bag, and then massage the bag until all the pasta is covered in colour.
Repeat this process with as many colours as you like, I made 5 colours total - red, pink, blue, green, and yellow.
Then put baking paper on some trays and tip the pasta out onto them, spreading it out to a single layer for drying.
Leave to dry. Now, the time it takes to dry completely is really variable depending on heat/cold etc. Its spring here and happened to be a sunny day when I did this so I popped the trays in the sunroom to dry and it only took about and hour. If you're in winter and you don't have a warm place to dry the pasta, consider making it in the evening and leaving to dry overnight.
When its dry you're ready to play! You can either choose to mix up the colours in a big tub, or keep them separate in smaller containers or a segmented container - the choice is yours! I chose to mix them together and I think the result is beautifully vibrant.
So now you've made your pasta what are you going to do with it?? Well, here's a few ways to get you started:
1. Threading (2 years +)
Threading is a great activity for practising co-ordination and dexterity, as well as being creative and fun with a wearable finished product!
For this activity I took a bunch of ribbons from one of our craft boxes and some kitchen string, at one end I tied a knot to hold the pasta on and threaded one pasta onto each one to get things started.
I also decided to wrap some sticky tape around the ends of each string/ribbon to make the threading a bit easier for Bean, who still finds this task quite tricky.
I set up this invitation to play on the light panel on the floor of our playroom, as I thought the added light element would be nice coming through the coloured pasta.
Bean came to play after her nap, and it ended up being a nice gentle waking up activity for her.
We even had our two little neighbours from across the road come and enjoy this one too, and being older children they made some wonderful necklaces, one of which they gave to Bean who has been wearing it every day since! :-)
2. Play dough prints and pictures (1 year +)
After Bean had finished with threading she requested to make animal shapes with the pasta on the light panel. However, the pasta kept moving about and Bean was getting frustrated so I got out some play dough!
Bean decided to make Dinosaur so this is our pasta-o-saurus! ROAR!
3. Making pictures (2 years +)
The next day we used the pasta to make 3D pictures, using PVA glue (also called school glue or white glue), coloured paper, coloured pens, and glitter...
At 2.5 Bean was able to do this activity all herself with me merely a spectator, and it's always so lovely to see the glow of her independently creating...
...Gluing...
...Sticking...
...making it sparkle!
With some coloured pen added for a finishing touch it turned out beautifully.
Then when she had finished her own picture she asked me if I would like to make one together - naturally I accepted the invitation ;-)
So we made...a rainbow!
4. Colour Sorting Game (1 year +)
This is a simple way to use the pasta for colour sorting/matching, which would be a great skill and colour activity for younger toddlers.
I set this one up for Bean after she went to bed one night ready for her to find the next morning, using a basket filled with the rainbow pasta, and clear jars with spots of coloured paper underneath (which I cut out from A4 sheets) that corresponded with the colours of the pasta.
For a half asleep Bean this was an easy activity, because of course by now she already knows her colours inside out.
So after a bit of sorting and matching, the game progressed into something much more fun for her! First she began to fill the jars up with "all colours of the rainbow mama!" trying to squeeze as much pasta into each jar as she possibly could.
She then took the coloured spots from underneath the jars and declared that they were lily-pads for a pond and we were all frogs! So we cut out a few more 'lily-pads' and played a hopping frog game around the lounge!
It just goes to show that when you set up a play activity you never know where it might lead, and in my experience the best fun often happens in ways that were never planned.
5. Rainbow Shakers (6 months +)
The final idea is one that would be perfect for all the very little people, although the bigger ones can enjoy it too! Infants love exploring sounds and colours, so why not combine the two elements and make some rainbow pasta shakers?
It takes away the choking hazard of the small pasta bits, whilst still allowing them to absorb the rainbow colours and different shapes, and make sounds as well. I used two different size plastic containers to make different tones, in the larger container I put a handful of all the pasta shapes mixed together, and in the smaller container I picked out just the smaller pasta shapes.
Bean loves to do percussion along with music so these were a nice addition to our daily dancing session!
Hopefully I've given you some inspiration to try making some Rainbow Pasta at home! There are SO many things you can do with this one simple material, some other ideas I had are:
- Pasta Sensory Tub - for 1 year +, using bigger pasta shapes, and including some containers and spoons for scooping and filling.
- Pasta Treasure Hunt - for 18 months +, using a full tub of pasta with small 'treasure' items hidden within it.
Happy Playing!
