Noodle Necklaces

I've discovered something about my children.  And it's not a good something.  When offered any unstructured time, their activities of choice are, shall we say, undesirable.  Hitting.  Wrestling.  Kicking.  Poking. Teasing. Yelling.  (Please tell me this is because of their age.  PLEASE?)

So I try and make sure there is very little unstructured time.

Yesterday, I relied on an oldie-but-goodie to fill their time.  Noodle Necklaces!

You'll need:

food coloring
white vinegar
ziploc bags
any type of noodles that can be strung
yarn/ribbon
twist-ties (optional)

First, put 12 drops of food coloring into a ziploc bag.  Add 2 tsp. of vinegar.  Then add about 1/2 cup of pasta.  Squish the pasta around in the bag to make sure that it's coated with the food coloring.

Then lay the pasta out on paper towels to dry.  After about 15 minutes, flip the pasta over so it dries evenly.

When it's all dry, start stringing!  Cut a length of ribbon or yarn, get going!  For an easy threader, twist a twist-tie around the end of the yarn.

Just look at my kitchen table.  You can see I was trying to keep them busy!  In addition to the noodle necklaces, they were also working with magnetic letters AND having a snack.

Here was an unexpected bonus of this activity:  I snuck some math practice in.  We worked on patterning with the noodle colors.

red, red, yellow, yellow

blue, blue, green, green, red

checking his pattern

They loved this activity, and wore their new jewelry all day!

this one loves to pose

this one needs a haircut!

**This activity came straight from the pages of Family Fun magazine!  Awesome magazine and website!**