Rainbow spaghetti sensory play activity

This rainbow spaghetti sensory play activity is lots of fun and very cheap and easy to make at home.

Playing with rainbow spaghetti is a great sensory experience for toddlers and preschoolers.

They’ll enjoy exploring the colour and slimy texture of the coloured spaghetti as it slips through their fingers.

It will also help them to develop their fine motor skills, creativity and imagination as they find different ways to play with the spaghetti.

Have a go at making your own rainbow spaghetti sensory play activity with this recipe from our friends at Mud Mates. Your kids will love it!
 

Rainbow spaghetti sensory play activity

What you’ll need for your rainbow spaghetti

 

• 1 packet of dried spaghetti (fully cooked and drained)
• Food colouring in as many different colours as you like
• 1-2 tbsp cooking oil
• Resealable plastic bags
• Containers for each of the food colouring colours
• 1 large container

Optional

• Bowls, saucepans or pots
• Kitchen utensils for playing with the spaghetti (small tongs, ladle, slotted spoon, fish slice etc)

 

How to make your rainbow spaghetti

1. Allow the cooked spaghetti to cool down slightly, then divide it into separate resealable bags. Use one bag for each colour that you are going to make.

2. Add a few drops of food colouring to one bag of spaghetti and a little drop of oil to help the colour spread evenly and to prevent the noodles from becoming too sticky. Repeat using each of the other food colouring colours.

3. Seal up the bags and shake them gently until the pasta is evenly coloured.

4. Leave the spaghetti to sit in the bags for around 10-15 minutes to dry out a little, then rinse it under cold water to remove any excess food colouring.

Please note, your hands may still get some food colouring on them at this point.

5. Divide the coloured spaghetti into the containers. One colour per container.

6. Then set out the containers of spaghetti, along with any bowls or kitchen utensils and the empty large container.

7. Your rainbow spaghetti sensory play activity is ready to go!
 

Tips for your rainbow spaghetti 

 

• Let your kids explore the rainbow spaghetti with their hands and with the utensils in the separate containers and when they’re ready, they can mix up the different coloured spaghetti in the large container.

 

• Enhance this sensory play activity by hiding small animals, cars, balls or other small toys in the spaghetti for your kids to find and remove.

 

• This rainbow spaghetti recipe can get quite messy, so you may want to play with it outside.

 

• Using the tongs to pick up the spaghetti is a great way for your kids to develop their fine motor skills.

 

• Threading the rainbow spaghetti through the holes in a slotted spoon is also a great way to help them to develop their hand eye co-ordination.

 

• Depending on the size of your containers, you may like to increase the spaghetti recipe to help fill up the containers a little more.

More kids activities articles to enjoy:

• Bubble wrap roller painting
• Edible mud sensory play activity
• How to make colourful soap slime

Source: This article was written by Mud Mates - Taking care of messy kids with protective over-garments, perfect for dirty, messy play, indoors and out.