Colored Spaghetti

Sensory is such an important part of the way young children learn......they make so many discoveries through touch and taste and yet, we often resist these activities because of the mess that is involved....believe me, I totally understand!  However, you can always do these types of activities outside.....on the driveway, in a shallow swimming pool, on a plastic tablecloth, use a plastic tub or tray or even do these activities in the bathtub or on tile floor. 

Since the weather has been just BEAUTIFUL these past few days, we took advantage of it and went outside to do this sensory play.  We just so happened to have our tent still up from the weekend.....great place to do some sensory....AKA messy activities.  We made some colored spaghetti.....have you ever played with spaghetti before.....even as an adult it is so much fun!

I have done this 2 different ways, so I am going to give you both directions on how to color spaghetti.  You can boil the spaghetti (however much you want....we did 32 oz), drain and cool, then divide into bowls.  We chose 4 different colors.....add the food coloring or paste (the paste works better) and mix into the spaghetti.....then add some oil so that way the spaghetti doesn't get sticky.  Dump all the spaghetti into a large tub or tubs and have fun.

Second option: Add food coloring to the boiling water and then add the spaghetti......this works good if you are only using 1 color or you have quite a few large pots to boil spaghetti in.   

Tip: I recommend using gloves when mixing the spaghetti with food coloring (or put in large baggies).....it will stain your hands (speaking from experience).  Once it is all mixed in and ready to play with it normally doesn't stain the children's hands.....just makes them very oily!

   

We are going to keep using this until it gets nasty.  You can hide things in the spaghetti for them to find, like the magnetic fridge letters.....put the letters of their name in the tub and they can search for them and spell their name.....put numbers and have them put them in order from 1-9....little trinkets or things that go with the letter of the week for them to find.....endless possibilities for learning.

Tracy