You might have seem your local publisher at an event around town with a craft or jewelry station to entertain kids, we usually have a pasta necklace or a craft like the one pictured of a Thanksgiving Turkey. They are also great for sensory tables too.
And in true serendipity, we are so thankful for our readers because a dad at Saturday's Thanksgiving event asked "so how do you color the pasta?" and I have a way to share that with all of you. Read on to start making your own colored pasta.
Buy the cheapest pasta, AKA what is on sale that week. Sometimes the store brand is not the cheapest. And the dollar store is probably selling pasta for more than you'd pay at the grocery store when pasta is 4/$5 etc. Go ahead and grab some rubbing alcohol there too if you don't have that at home. Most recipes call for rubbing alcohol, hand sanitizer, or vinegar, you can use what you have on hand. also the more you make the more, newspaper you will need to let it dry. We had to goto a neighbors when we did a bulk coloring.
Gather:
- Pasta
- Plastic zipper bags
- Rubbing alcohol
- Newspaper
- Food coloring drops in variety of colors
- Measuring cup
- Baking sheet
Get to dying:
- 1lb pasta
- 1 quart zipper bag
- 1 Measuring cup
- 1/4 cup of rubbing alcohol
- 10 drops of food coloring. If you are mixing colors use 5 drops of one color and 5 drops of another.
- Newspaper not magazines they will stick.
Add rubbing alcohol to the food coloring together in a measuring cup and stir. Add that mix to the pasta in a zipper bag or container. Mix it around to evenly coat the dry pasta. Turn and flip the bag every 30 minutes to distribute the color. Let it sit until desired color is achieved. Dry the pasta mixture on newspaper lined baking racks overnight.
You can store the pasta in plastic bags or storage containers for months.
To make the craft above we painted white school glue on the dyed pasta and fixed it onto construction paper. Once dried it holds up pretty well even though the pasta can make it heavy!
Happy CRAFTING!
