Dyed Cooked Spaghetti Play

We dyed dry noodles with food coloring and rubbing alcohol the other day but I stumbled upon a tutorial for dying noodles with vinegar. You can actually cook the colored noodles and eat them!

Dying noodles for eating/play:

I set up the table with baggies of spaghetti broken in half, a bowl of vinegar with a teaspoon, and food coloring.

Daddy helped K count out and pour 3 teaspoons (or 1 tbs) of vinegar into each baggy. They also counted out 6 drops of food coloring into each baggy. We had six total and used a whole ($0.75) pack of spaghetti.

They shook the baggies really well and worked the color into each one. We let the baggies sit for a couple hours and then I laid them out to dry. We had a noodle rainbow!

Looking back I would have had them do one bag at a time and shake it really well. We had a few clumps.

I let them dry for an hour and broke up any clumps as best I could. I cooked them in a big pot with a splash of oil like I normally would. Next time I’ll do blue based colors separately from the red based ones to prevent colors blending. This is our bucket of noodles! I mixed in a splash of olive oil to keep them from getting gummy.

I got the tub ready and put it in the fridge overnight. Today we spread out a sheet in the living room and let the kids go to town. They had cups, bowls, and various kitchen utensils.

K loved the fact that he could play with them and eat them.

And here is E in the bucket.

They had a lot of fun. K played restaurant. E explored everything. The best part? It only costs $1 to do.

I’d rather spend $20 on different fun projects that they’ll remember than the same money on a plastic toy that will be be forgotten.

It’ll be a few more days of horrible phone pics. My computer is still being worked on. 😦

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