We have been continuing our  exploration in exploring length by measuring and creating with colored spaghetti noodles…
There are many different recipes available on the internet for making colored spaghetti noodles. Â When attempting to color the spaghetti at home, it always seems as though I don’t quite have the exact ingredients that the recipes calls for. Â As is usually the case when I cook, I decide to improvise. Â For my version of colored spaghetti, you will need plain spaghetti noodles; gel food coloring; Â oil; and bowls or plastic zipper bags; and rubbing alcohol…
Add about a 1/2 cup of oil to a large stockpot filled with water – the oil prevents the noodles from sticking together during the cooking process and during play. Â Let the water come to boil and then add plain spaghetti noodles…
If you plan to use the noodles for measuring, go ahead and break the noodles into a variety of sizes. Â While the noodles are boiling, begin adding the gel food colors to plastic zipper bags. Â I read that regular food coloring may not color the noodles evenly but I was also concerned gels would not mix well due to being so thick, so I added a couple of teaspoons of rubbing alcohol to the bottom of the bags. Â I squished the gel and the alcohol together until they were mixed well…
Once the noodles are fully cooked, strain the water and divide the noodles evenly among your prepared bags of color. Â Squish the noodles around in the bags until it appears as though all the noodles are covered with the brilliant gel colors you have chosen. Add more food coloring gel as needed. Â Store the colored pasta in the refrigerator until needed. Â A few things to note about this process…
- Adding the alcohol to the noodles makes them inedible, so be sure to consider your children’s needs when making this recipe. Â
- The smell of the rubbing alcohol evaporates off the noodles, so there is no lingering smell while playing with them.
- I also came across another recipe that called for liquid water color, instead of food coloring. Â This too, would make the noodles inedible, but would eliminate the need for the rubbing alcohol. Â
- I made a lot of colored spaghetti – most likely more than I needed for this process to be successful but I was still learning my way around the “how to make colored spaghetti” process…
Colored spaghetti noodles are a great sensory activity! Â We extended the sensory play into math by providing sorting charts and rulers…
The colored charts provided the children with the opportunity to sort the spaghetti noodles by color. Â Sorting the spaghetti allowed us to talk about size comparisons. Â Deborah and I invited the children to share with us which of their noodles was the smallest or biggest, longest or shortest…
The rulers provided a very basic introduction into measurement. Â The children lined their noodles up at the end of the ruler and stretched their noodles out to see which number it ended closest to on their ruler…
Because I had prepared quite a bit of colored spaghetti, we just couldn’t resist the opportunity to explore the noodles in a different manner. Â So, Deborah suggested that we use the remaining spaghetti noodles for a little designing…
Deborah set out the colored noodles, as well as paper and cups of water. Â The pasta may have stuck to the paper without adding water but we went ahead and added water just to create new interest in exploring the pasta. Â We invited the children to dip their spaghetti in the water and then create designs on their paper…
The children were very thoughtful in how they placed their wet colorful noodles onto their paper.  However, when our artwork dried, most of the noodles no longer stuck to our paper, making sure this project wasn’t going to end up going home. However it did give the children a wonderful sensory and a unique measuring process to dig our hands into…
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Links to grow on:
Spaghetti sensory play by Teach Preschool
Spaghetti towers by Pre-school Play
I is for inchworm by Everyday Carnival
Discussion on Food for Sensory Play by Teach Preschool