Little Kid

Pasta crafts and activities can keep your kid's attention.
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Dry Pasta Is The Perfect Way To Keep Your Kid Occupied

From crafts to sensory play and beyond — your kids will love playing with their "food."

by Ashley Jones
Updated: 
Originally Published: 

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Still need to use up that 20-pound bag of rigatoni you stocked up on last year? These dried pasta ideas are perfect to try with your kiddos.

Your kids can glue different types of pasta to construction paper to make their own unique works of art. Play around with various shapes, colors, and sizes.Shutterstock
Remember how much your mom treasured the noodle necklaces you made her as a kid? Now, it's your turn. Give your kids some string and let them go to town.Shutterstock

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Fill a bin with orzo or other small-grain pasta. Add some small toys, cups, and spoons. Sit back, and watch the magic unfold in your own sensory bin.

If your kids love building with LEGO, they'll likely enjoy stacking different types of pasta and gluing them together to build pasta houses. Think of it like a gingerbread house, just less edible.Gregory Kramer/Photodisc/Getty Images

Make a pasta "wind chime" by running strings through various types of hollow pasta and tying the ends of each string to a paper plate. Then, hang upside down outside.

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Paint bowtie pasta with acrylic paints and let dry. Then, attach a barrette or hair clip with hot glue to the back to create a pasta hair bow. R.Tsubin/Moment/Getty Images

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Swish uncolored dry pasta around in a plastic baggie with a few drops of food coloring and a splash of rubbing alcohol. Let dry on a paper towel and then use the colorful noodles for crafting.

To practice fine motor skills, toddlers can thread dried spaghetti noodles through the holes in a pasta strainer turned upside down. REDA&CO/Universal Images Group/Getty Images

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Is there a holiday, birthday, or special occasion coming up? Let your kids use pasta to decorate homemade greeting cards.

Thread differently shaped pasta noodles through pipe cleaners and stick the ends into piles of Play-Doh to build pasta sculptures. Anna Kurzaeva/Moment/Getty Images

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Write your child's name on a large piece of paper, then let them glue pasta over the top of their name to practice using their fine motor skills.

Fill a plastic baggie nearly full with small pasta (orzo, orecchiette, cavatelli, etc.). Then, add a few small toys and trinkets to create a homemade seek-and-find game for your kids.alvarez/E+/Getty Images

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