Making a pasta collage and then painting it is an enjoyable
activity for a rainy day, but have you tried dying pasta before your kids have
fun with it?
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| Own image |
Making pasta more vibrant is very easy, as all you need in
addition to the pasta is oil and food colouring. Simply cook the pasta
according to the directions, add enough oil to coat – I found that a tablespoon is sufficient for 100g of uncooked pasta – and then add as much or
as little food colouring as you want to reach the desired shade, giving it a
good mix to evenly coat the shapes. Then leave for at least an hour to dry
before play begins.
You could stick to one colour of pasta, or do as we did at
this month’s session of messy play in St Bees, and use a different pigment for
each different shape of pasta. The red, blue, green and yellow pasta shapes
were soon well-mixed in the tub once little hands got to work!
Besides exploring the texture of pasta, there are other directions
in which you might take pasta play. Younger tots will enjoy finding small toys
or other safe objects buried in a tub of pasta. Toddlers can also practice threading
pasta tubes on to a string, which enhances their manual dexterity. Alternatively,
youngsters can sort mixed up pasta into like colours. If you try dying your own
pasta, you and your children may well come up with further ideas for sensory
play!
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