Pasta Necklace

Make and Takes has this fun thing to do:

Coloring pasta is easy to do and gives kids something bright and beautiful to work with. Once the pasta is colored and dried, necklaces or charms can be made by stringing yarn.

Supplies for Colored Pasta:

• Dried Pasta - any pasta works, but for stringing you will need tubed pasta. I used macaroni, penne, and wheels.
• Food coloring
• Rubbing alcohol
• Plastic baggies
• Paper towels
• String or Yarn

Place your dried pasta in a zip plastic baggie. Pour in 3-4 drops of your food coloring. Pour in 1 Tablespoon of Rubbing Alcohol. Now seal the bag and shake it all together. Make sure each piece of dried pasta gets coated. Pour your colored pasta out on paper towel lined trays. Food coloring can stain, so be careful. You’ll want it completely dry before you start to work with it again, as you don’t want any color to drip. I put mine out in the sun to dry faster.

Get out your string or yarn and cut the length of a necklace for your child. Then tie a knot at one end, big enough that the pasta will stay there. I like to tie pasta in my knotted end so the others won’t fall off. I also like to put a little tape around the top of the string so it won’t fray as you string.

Have your child string on pasta, all sizes and shapes. You can introduce patterns or do counting with your child.

Once they’ve hit the end of their string, tie the two sides together for a necklace around your child’s neck. They can even make bracelets or little charms to hang in their rooms.

I’ve also used this colored pasta for gluing onto things like frames or collages. There are similar projects you can do with coloring using rice or salt too. Have fun making these colors come alive.