rainbow pasta fun

On Thursday I dyed pasta for C, and yesterday he played with it! For a mama who loves organizing and sorting it was the best activity ever. C moved pieces around while I sorted it by color and shape. Such a good use of my time, don't you think? But onto the details...if you want to make some you can look at these three sites.

There are a couple of different methods: Minor Details' version (where you completely cover the pasta in rubbing alcohol in the bags) and Simply Radiant's version (where you use less alcohol). Here's another link with more detailed directions that would be especially helpful if your kids were helping you dye the pasta as they were at Brilliant Beginnings Preschool.

Next time I would follow the directions I read (I know...reading the directions before starting a project...novel) and mix the alcohol and food coloring in the bags first. I would also use more alcohol than I used, because our pasta's colors aren't consistent. This time they have the character of watercolor, which is beautiful, but I'd like more intensity.

I did the dying myself, because I didn't think rubbing alcohol, food coloring and C were a good fit for one another. The other issue was that I did all the messy part in the basement, and C's not really allowed down there (it looks like a DMZ.) Oh, and I left the bags overnight in the bags.

I love learning about more about C's personality and reaction to new activities, textures and colors. When I first got out the pasta he quietly observed it for a little while before he started checking it out. Even then, he took his time looking at the shapes and colors.  

Ahead-of-time I tied a piece of rigatoni to the ends of different colored yarn pieces, thinking that maybe he'd want to do some stringing. That activity will come another day though.  

This is my handy work, obviously, although he was pretty good at sorting when he wanted to be. I was pretty amazed at how observant he was in terms of the shapes especially. In fact, he sometimes put the wrong colors together, but interestingly, the shapes almost always matched.

Eventually the activity ended how you'd expect: noodles launched all over the room, happy hollering and some pretty manic behavior. Overall it was a super fun time and definitely fit the "Fun-time Friday" bill.

Some projects that I'd love to try in the future are on my Pinterest "Rainbow Pasta" board.

You can also buy pre-colored pasta here and here if you want immediate gratification.