Colored Pasta Activities for Prechoolers

This is one of Charlie's favorite activities to do. Sorting pasta. The activities that you can do with colored pasta really are endless, but he really likes to sort. And coloring the pasta is a fun activity in itself.

 Making Colored Pasta

 

 

 

You will need:

• Different types of pasta (bowtie, macaroni, penne, rotelle, shells, fusilli (corkscrew)

• Alcohol

• Food Coloring

• Ziploc bag

• Cookie Sheet

• Waxed Paper 
• Small dish to mix alcohol and food coloring
• Paper Towels

How to Make:

1. Place one cup of pasta in ziploc bag. You can mix types or make each type a different color.  
2. Put 1 Tbsp of alcohol in small container with 8-10 drops of food coloring. Stir.
3. Pour into ziploc bag and close securely. Shake the bag gently, turning a few times to get the color spread evenly. Sit on paper towel for 10 minutes. Turn bag over and sit for another 10 minutes. For deeper color add another 10 minutes. Do not leave in bag for hours.
4. Place waxed paper on cookie sheet and carefully pour out the now colored pasta. Make sure it is in a single layer for faster drying.
5. Dry thoroughly before storing.
6. Repeat for other colors.

Tips and  Suggestions:

• I used regular  shades of food coloring. The neon food coloring will give you even brighter results.

• The macaroni pasta is very small and tends to be hard to work with for small hands. It is not my favorite pasta.
  
  
  

  Activities with Colored Pasta 

  Sorting.
  
  
  
  For this you will need a muffin tin. Have your child sort the pasta into the muffin tins by type or color depending on how you colored your pasta. We colored ours a different color for each type so we are sorting by color and type.
  
  
   Patterns.
  Start a pattern for your child and see if he/she can finish it. (Ex. red macaroni, blue shell, blue shell, red macaroni, blue shell _______). See if your child can create his/her own pattern.
  
  
  
  
  Counting.
  Write numbers 0-10 on the bottom of cupcake liners. Place in muffin tin. Have your child place correct number of pasta in each cup.
  
  
  Stringing.
   Make necklaces and bracelets. 
  
  
  Create Art.
  Just let your child use his/her imagination with this. Get out the construction paper and glue and the options are limitless to what they can create with their colored pasta.
  I'm sure there are several other activities that can be done with colored pasta. If you have a favorite way to use colored pasta or have questions about making it at home, feel free to leave a comment. I'd love to hear from you!