I keep thinking of more AND more preschool activity bags. I might do another week's worth of them for you, but tonight I am just adding this one idea that goes with letter N (so that I can get Letter N posted!).
A simple thing for your preschooler to do is to string some pasta and make a bracelet or necklace. BUT…who wants to string plain pasta? Not me. I want it to be pretty or at least have a little pizazz. You can make pretty pasta!
Supplies Needed
- Rubbing Alcohol
- Food Coloring (I had some cheap and some not-so-cheap; used both)
- Ziploc quart storage bags (one per color)
- assorted pasta for stringing
- paper towel
- cookie sheets
- tablespoon
Directions
1. Put some food coloring (10 drops -or as much as you want) in a bag with 1 tablespoon of alcohol. Add 1/3-1/2 box of pasta. Squish.
2. Repeat for different colors/different pastas.
3. Get some cookie sheets ready by lining them with paper towel. Squish bags again.
4. Throw away leftover pasta boxes and put food coloring, etc. away.
5. Dump pasta on to the prepared cookie sheets. Let it dry. Completely. before letting your tot touch it.
A few notes from me to you. I wasn't impressed with purple; it was even WILTON purple, but darker colors (note the blue) do not do as well. The orange was perfect (also Wilton) and the green was very nice (cheapy). You may wonder why I dyed yellow pasta yellow. Well, it really does make a difference (again, Wilton. . . lemon yellow); it makes it bright & fun! If I ever remember, I am going to browse the Wilton selection in the cake decorating supplies to see what other lighter colors they have. I am out of red, but we really need to add some red to our collection, so I will at some point.
Once you have your colored pasta (and it's REALLY dry), you can throw it in a gallon freezer bag with some string, yarn, fun-tipped yarn, or pipe cleaners, and your preschooler can pattern and bead all the live long day. Yippee for Preschool Activity Bags!
Simon really loves his noodle necklace (that he made!)
I like mine, too.
LOVE the pictures and the suggestions. We’re doing N n as our letter of the week and I’ll be doing this craft.
I subscribe to your blog and really enjoy your alphabet posts, activity bags and other terrific ideas!
Warmly,
Susan
all-about-the-journey.blogspot.com
I want to do this with preschoolers. Did you have any problem staining clothes or carpet while playing with these necklaces? Are they safe once they are dry? What if the kids touch with wet hands or spill water? Thanks!
Yuko
Just wanted to let you know that you can use KoolAid drink packets as pasta dye too!!! Just use enough warm water to dissolve one packet, mixing WELL, then add pasta/rice/whatever you’re dying to the bag and mix! And no horrible alcohol smell–actually, the KoolAid smell sticks with it pretty well and everything smells fruity! We didn’t have any problems with color transfer, either =)
You are very creative! I love all of your activity bag ideas. I would like to know if I can use them in my kindergarten classroom? Thanks!
Yes! You may use them for personal use as much as you want! š Have fun. š
Another alternative to using alcohol is to use white vinegar. The colors come out much brighter and they are non-toxic.
You can use white vinegar instead of the alcohol. The colors are much brighter and they are non-toxic. Works great for dying rice also.