Has your child come home recently with a necklace made from lovely, bright pasta? That’s because we dyed some for the kids to use to help them practice their stringing, which is great for honing those fine motor skills. But, lest you think the only thing they can do with beautifully died pasta is put it on a string, here are some other ideas for fun pasta crafts.
For all of these crafts, you’ll want some nicely died pasta. For an excellent tutorial, check out this one by Julie Finn at Crafting a Green World.
Jewelry
Jewelry is the old pasta stand by, but you can do some pretty great things with the number of types of pasta you can find. Wagon wheels glued together can make really pretty tiaras when glued to a plain plastic headband, and bow ties make great center pendants on bracelets and necklaces. All you need is pasta and string! You can even decorate hair clips by gluing the pasta to plain barrettes. And, you can find some fun pastas like peace signs (made by Annie’s Organics – check the natural food section at Fred Meyer).
Transportation
Lasagna noodles make great bases for train cars, and rigatoni makes some pretty cool lumber to tote in those train cars. You can of, course, use wagon wheels for tires on all sorts of vehicles. If you want some inspiration, this pasta train from Parents is pretty cool.
Art
Gluing pasta on poster board or card stock is a great way for kids to create their own designs. And, you can always let them paint the pasta after it’s on the paper, instead of dying it ahead of time. Also, if your little one is learning their ABCs, alphabet pasta can be a fun way to reinforce those letters.
Garland
Just like stringing cranberries for tree garland, you can string pasta for pretty garlands to hang on your Christmas tree or around the house anywhere.
Picture Frames
Pasta can add fun texture to a picture frame. Glue pieces of pasta on a basic frame and paint over them, or used the dyed pasta for a different look.
If you’re the type that prefers to learn by watching, Parents has a video about pasta crafts with some other fun ideas too.
No matter which activity you do with pasta, your child is sure to love it!
You know how we feel about the Power of Play at In a Child’s Path. An article in the Missourian, says “Play helps your child develop physically, learn about the world, learn to express emotions, develop conversation skills, develop creativity and learn how to be sociable.” It also says, “The lessons children learn through playing are really more profound than anything you could teach them.”
