St. Patrick’s Day Rainbow Dyed Pasta Sensory Play
Rainbow Pasta Sensory Play
Spring is in full swing at our home, soaking in the sunny days as much as we can and beginning to see the flowers bloom. We love the bright colors erupting from the ground and fragrant blooms coming through the flowers and trees as the season and weather are warming up.
It’s amazing what added colors that come into our eyes each day lifts our moods and excitement for the new season.
What is your favorite season of the year?
With all the long days and daylight savings now in action, what better way to have a St. Patrick’s Day Rainbow Dyed Spaghetti Sensory Play activity in the home. Seeing all the fun colors of spaghetti creates a new fun appreciation and view of spaghetti than a pasta dish made in our home and chewing at our kitchen table.
What’s Included In The St. Patrick’s Day Rainbow Dyed Spaghetti Bin
This sensory bin has rainbow-dyed spaghetti that we made at home. We detail the steps below of how the process was for dying your own pasta.
We also included marshmallows, black cauldrons, fake plastic grass, and plastic gold coins to complete this sensory bin. A set of multi-colored plastic toy counting bears were added outside the sensory bin for extra fun and enjoyment. Lastly, were the Learning Resources Helping Hands Fine Motor Tool Set that was used in today’s play!
As with the majority of the sensory activities that we have created in the past, we sourced most of the items from The Dollar Store and other local grocery and department stores.
How To Make Rainbow Dyed Spaghetti Pasta
To create the hue and brightness of the pasta for each color, we boiled the pasta until the texture was al dente or slightly one step before al dente. As overcooked spaghetti will create a texture that is not as pliable to play and dye.
Once the pasta was drained and cooled, we used generous amounts of food gel dye with some cold tap water and massaged the color into each bag of pasta. The pasta can also be dyed in a bowl with some gloves or spatulas too.
How To Get A Strong Color Hue For Your Spaghetti or Pasta
The trick, I felt to maintain the strong color hue in the pasta was storing the spaghetti overnight in the refrigerator.
The following day, I poured each bag into a stainless steel colander and hand rinsed the pasta with cold water to remove any excess dye from the pasta, shake out any remaining moisture/water, and can return the pasta to its original bag stored for the colored pasta.
Then transfer to the desired container for play.
Rinse and repeat for each colored spaghetti and there you have it!
A fun-themed bright-colored spaghetti to the color and hue of your choice.
For some added varying colored effect, add less dye to the cooked pasta, massage in and the results will have more of a tie-dye effect with less dye.
How Much Pasta Used For This Project
The amount of pasta used for this specific craft was (2) 32 large ounces of pasta.
We had extra unused pasta after this sensory tray was finished.
How To Store The Rainbow Dyed Pasta
To store excess spaghetti, hold onto the bags that were used from dying them return spaghetti to bags, seal tight with no air, and store in the vegetable crisper drawer in the refrigerator. Having extra makes a quick opportunity to have another sensory activity at your fingertips.
Materials Needed For The Rainbow Dyed Spaghetti Pasta Project
- Spaghetti or desired pasta shape
- Pot to boil spaghetti
- Choice of food dye
- Plastic resealable bags and/or large bowl
- Colander to rinse out cooked pasta and dyed pasta
- Tongs/spatulas/disposable gloves/dish gloves for dying pasta (optional)
Sensory Play For Young Children
Sensory play for young children is beneficial in that it helps them further develop all of their five senses. It is also pivotal in helping kids develop their fine motor skills, language, and vocabulary, cognitive abilities, and problem-solving skills.
We use sensory play as a large part of our homeschooling curriculum. Our son really enjoys being physical and doing activities with his hands. So these sensory bin projects are well-liked and heavily utilized.
We hope you have enjoyed today’s project and can use sensory play in your homes. Play On!
Check out our other fun ideas on how we’ve brought additional color into our home to welcome in the new spring season! Make some borax crystal shamrocks too! Also, love the sounds of fizzing baking soda erupting coming from cauldrons?
St. Patrick’s Day Fizzy Rainbow Sensory Activity
Click here to watch and learn how to make some in your home!
We are glad you are here today exploring some fun spring ideas and hope to hear of your creations made in your home!
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