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You are here: Home / By Age / For Parents / How to Dye Pasta

May 22, 2014 By Chelsey

How to Dye Pasta

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Colored pasta is one of our favorite craft and learning materials. We often dye it in batches and save it for all kinds of future kid art projects and activities.  Here’s how to dye pasta!

Follow our Recipes for Play and Creating Pinterest board!

 

Learn how to dye pasta! (Colored pasta is the perfect material for all kinds of crafts and learning activities!)~ Buggy and Buddy

 

As a classroom teacher, one of the first things I learned to do was dye pasta! It can be used for all kinds of learning activities and crafts, and the actual process of coloring the pasta is always a fun activity for kids.

Dyeing your own pasta is super simple and only requires a couple of ingredients. (This post contains affiliate links.)

 

How to Dye Pasta

Materials Needed for Dyeing Pasta

  • Dried pasta
  • Rubbing alcohol
  • Food coloring
  • Gallon size plastic baggies
  • Newspaper
  • Tray or cookie sheet

Directions for Dyeing Pasta

1. Start by placing your dried pasta into a large baggie.

Place pasta in baggie

 

2. Add some rubbing alcohol and food coloring to the bag of pasta. (The amount depends on how much pasta your are dyeing, but you really can’t go wrong. For one whole package of rigatoni, I used about 1/4 cup alcohol and 4-5 big squirts of food coloring.)

Add rubbing alcohol and food coloring

 

3. Mush the bag around so all the pasta gets covered with the rubbing alcohol and food coloring. (I did this all outside since I had a few bags that leaked a bit.) At this point you can add more food coloring if you want your color a bit deeper or add more rubbing alcohol if the color doesn’t seem to be covering all the pasta.

Mix the contents of the bag to dye the pasta

 

4. Let the bags sit for about 10-15 minutes. Be sure to move them around a few times to get even coverage.

Let the colored pasta sit

 

5. Spread some newspaper out. (We put our newspaper in a tray because it was super windy out.) Dump the pasta out of the baggie and onto the newspaper. Spread it out as best you can and wait for it to dry.

Let your dyed pasta dry on some newspaper

6. Once the pasta is completely dry, store it in some fresh baggies or containers.

What Can You Do with Colored Pasta?

Wondering what to do with all that colored pasta you just made? Here’s some ideas to get you started!

  • Thread it onto some yarn to make a necklace like our caterpillar necklace craft.
  • Make a colorful rainbow craft.
  • Set up a simple fine motor activity with pasta and playdough.
  • Use the colored pasta in a sensory bin.
  • Substitute colored pasta for the pompoms in this toddler invitation to play.

 

How to Dye Pasta (Perfect material for all kinds of hands-on learning activities and crafts for kids!)~ Buggy and Buddy

how to dye pasta and what to do with it

 

Filed Under: For Parents, For Teachers, Recipes for Playing & Creating Tagged With: pasta

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Welcome to Buggy and Buddy! I'm Chelsey, a former teacher and parent living on the central coast of California. I love sharing crafts, science, STEM and STEAM activities, free printables and more! Read More…

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