Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Play and Learn with Pasta


We dyed pasta for the first time and it was, as my 4 year old would say, "easy peasy lemon squeezy!" We followed this tutorial from Happy Hooligans on how to dye pasta.

I've been wanting to try this for awhile now and what motivated me was that a few weeks ago we were up to letter N for our letter of the week.  I thought a noodle or pasta activity would be appropriate so I gathered up some materials and got to work.

First, my preschooler glued on some noodles to form the letter N.  I wrote out the letter, applied some glue and stuck the noodles on top.  This activity helped with recognizing the uppercase N and we also went over the sound "N" makes.


Playing with a manipulative like dyed pasta is perfect for making patterns, which is exactly what my daughter did while gluing on the pasta.  It was a proud Mommy moment when my daughter took it upon herself to make a pattern and than tell me proudly of her accomplishment!


Next, I used some silicone cups that were the colors of the dyed pasta allowing my daughter the opportunity to sort by color.


 For some one to one correspondence I added a small piece of paper with a number on it and inserted them into the cups.  My daughter than counted out the noodles and put them into the appropriate cups.


We had alot of fun learning about the letter N!

Most of us probably have at least one box of pasta hiding in our kitchen cabinets or pantry making playing with pasta a fun and educational activity that you can do on a whim!



25 comments:

  1. Now you know I love this! You got many activities out just a set of colored pasta and it's great.

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    1. I can't believe I waited this long to dye and play with pasta, Natasha!!

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  2. I love these noodle activities!!!

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  3. Great ideas! There is so much learning in this pretty material!

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  4. Such simple but fantastic way to learn through play! Thank you for sharing on my facebook page.

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    1. my daughter really enjoyed playing and learning with the pasta, can't believe it took me so long to try!

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    1. Thank you, Lisa! I love that this is something most people have in their cabinets and can pull out anytime!

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    1. thank you so much, it was definitely a hit with my daughter!

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  8. Hi Susan, this is such a good idea! I'm hunting for ideas to help my 2 yo with his colours and counting! I'll definitely be back :)

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    1. Hi Anna! So glad you liked the activity. This is definitely an activity that can help with color recognition and counting. I hope your son has as much fun with it as my daughter. Thanks for stopping by!

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  9. They look great fun! Thank you for sharing it with us #pintorials

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  10. Oh this is such a fun idea! My little kids would love to do this! And it's great how you got so many activities out of this one pasta idea. Thank you for sharing with us at On Display Thursday!

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    1. Hi Bre! Thanks for the comment, appreciate it! Yes this activity was a winner all the way around!! My daughter had fun and learned alot too.

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  11. Looks like fun! I love fun learning time. Thanks for linking up to Snickerdoodle Sunday.

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    1. my daughter really did have fun with it!! Thanks for the comment.

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  12. What a fab idea. We've never played with pasta before, but this looks great fun

    Thanks for linking up with Monday Parenting Pin It Party x

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    1. Carolin, it took us 9 years to finally play and color pasta! It was worth the wait!

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  13. Dried and dyed pasta would be a lot of fun to play and learn with!


    Thank you for stopping by the Thoughtful Spot Weekly Blog Hop this week. We hope to see you drop by our neck of the woods next week!

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    1. It was definitely a winner with my daughter, Jill!

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