Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Rainbow Bright

Remember making pasta necklaces back in kindergarten?  (Ok, I never actually got to do that because I went to kindergarten in the country in Tennessee where we weren't spoiled with such fantastic activities such as making jewelry out of noodles and we were also only allowed to whisper during lunch or we would be paddled, but that's another story for another day).  Maybe being deprived of the joy was what made this idea that I saw on another blog stick in my head.
We've been working on colors with Creed so these bright colored noodles seemed like another cheap, simple activity for days we're stuck inside.

They are so easy to make.  You will need pasta in fun shapes, a bottle of rubbing alcohol, ziplock bags, and food coloring.  Pour some rubbing alcohol in a ziplock bag (the original post said to fill the bag to totally cover the noodles, but I only used about 1/3 - 1/2 cup in each bag) add some food coloring and swish it around until it's mixed up and then pour some pasta in and seal the bag up.  I double bagged mine and put them in cereal bowls just in case they leaked.  The more dye you use and the longer you let them soak, the brighter the pasta will be.  I mixed mine during Creed's nap and squished them around and turned them over every hour or so.  Then after he went to bed for the night, I poured out the dye and spread each color on a separate cookie sheet to dry.  Because of the alcohol, they will dry really quickly.
We keep them all together in a big ziplock bag and Creed likes to sort them and stack them up and we practice naming the colors and counting them.  I suspect they will soon make it into some of the concoctions in Creed's play kitchen too.  The rubbing alcohol helps set the colors so it won't rub off and make a mess as you're playing with them.

22 comments:

  1. What a great idea!

    I do remember stringing them on yarn in Kindergarten. I'll have to make some up for James. He'll love them.

    We have the "bright" colors in food coloring so they should turn out nice and pretty.

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  2. THis is such an amazing idea. I know that both my kids will love this idea. i have recently started using the gen food coloring which let us to have "brighter colors"

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  3. Steph, if you want we can have arts and crafts night and make some macaroni necklaces :) we could even get the glue out and taste a little of it, just for old times sake.

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  4. I love the colors of your pastas! What a cute idea. It makes me want to go and make some for Kallen now. He already knows his colors and numbers, so I think I might try to makes some of these for him so we can practice making necklaces. I wish you lived nearby so we could make them together. Wouldn't that be fun? I bet Kallen and Creed would like hanging out.

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  5. Anonymous3:36 PM

    Is it safe if kids puts them in their mouth? I wasn't sure because of the alcohol. Could they be a choking hazard, too?

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  6. Emmy,

    I would be concerned about both the alcohol and choking so if you have any little kids around who still like to put foreign objects in their mouths, I would say save this project for later. Luckily Creed is way past that stage, but we still watch him carefully when this colored pasta is out just incase he decides it looks like it might taste good. So far it hasn't been a problem, but we are sure to put it away when smaller children come over.

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  7. You are an amazingly creative Mom - giving you son such a GREAT childhood! hugs - Mom car

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  8. Thanks so much Steph, I was just discussing making a noodle necklace with Kate yesterday and we were going to try and figure out how to color them first. You made is so easy for me.You have no idea how many times I come to your blog just to find ideas of what to do or where to look for cool stuff - just love it and we miss you guys!

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  9. One more thing, we tried dyeing rice this week and we just put the dye in a ziploc with the rice. It just soaked it all up as I squished it around. Then they drew a picture on paper, painted glue on it and filled in the picture with colored rice. It's a little too much for Creed now but thought it might be an idea for you later down the road.

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  10. Anonymous11:36 AM

    Just curious where the name Creed came from. It's my husband's name (his mother's maiden name) and my 7-year-old daughter's name. This is the first time I've seen it outside our family!

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  11. Anonymous3:04 PM

    I was just thinking about making colored pasta for necklace making with my son!! Thanks for the great info, I'm going to go buy some pasta this today!

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  12. Anonymous6:31 PM

    Great activity to do with the kids I watch here a few times a week. My 4 year old will love making necklaces. Thanks a ton.

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  13. What a fabulous idea! I'm definitely going to use this one. I'd love an ounce of your creativity!

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  14. I did this with the kids that I nanny for (4 and 3) and the loved it! I let them get anything they wanted out of the kitchen-so naturally the got everything- and then they "cooked" dinner and set up a picnic in the living room. It was HOURS of fun for them.

    Thanks for your wonderful ideas!

    www.bellasnovella.com

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  15. I saw this idea over at Happy to be at Home today. Fantastic! My kids are on spring break and this is THE activity I need to "wow" them. Thanks so much. ;-)

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  16. This looks like a fun little project-thanks for sharing!

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  17. I'm a different Emmy!

    Anyway, I was concerned about the alcohol too, and so I used vinegar and it worked great! I also dyed rice while I was at it, and I'm still trying to figure out exactly what to do with the rice - it's BEAUTIFUL to look at, but messy to play with. I liked the idea of the maracas.

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  20. I am curious as to what age this is "fun" for. I recently met a little girl (Her Birthday is next week, she'll be 8.)

    I'd also like to know if you bought specifically bright colored food dye or does it come our this bright with the regular primary food colors.

    I appreciate your response(s).

    ~Rose

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