Make this pasta sensory bin idea from my sensory class and build pre-writing skills in toddlers. This sensory bin idea uses the colored pasta recipe, edible, safe “sand” recipe, and many bottles with water and food coloring for an awesome pretend kitchen taste-safe activity!
The tools that we will use in this activity focus on strengthening the hand and finger muscles through play. Tongs, squeeze bottles, scoop scissors are all used to develop strong hands that later on will be able to hold pencils and write.
Sensory bins are great for development. I like to use themes to create inviting play ideas that will help them work on sensory-motor development while encouraging creative play. These fine motor skills are crucial skills used when entering Pre-K.
Aid your child to strengthen their hand and finger muscles too, later on, tie their shoes, button their jacket, and even hold a pencil!
The idea for this pasta Sensory bin setup I did for my tabby sensory class came from wanting to create a big pretend kitchen full of sensory supplies and kitchen supplies.
This photo shows my little learners enjoying this pasta sensory bin idea!
Ingredients for making the kitchen Pasta sensory bin idea
- Pans
- cookie metal trays
- bowls and spoons
- baskets
- measuring cups
- small squeeze bottles
- Tongs
If you want to do this activity at home and have a play kitchen, this activity will go great using the kitchen.
I used colored pasta and edible-safe sand for our edible-safe ingredients. To make edible-safe sand, just crush some crackers.
Learn how to color pasta or spaghetti using our signature recipe. For this activity, I wanted to provide different colors and types of pasta to give some dimension to our play.
I chose bow tie pasta and fusilli pasta in 3 different colors: Blue, neon yellow, and purple. You don’t have to use the same type of pasta or colors; use what you have in hand (or what’s on sale) and make at least two different colors.
color pasta recipe
I love this activity because you can make any pasta using the same technique as our signature rainbow-colored spaghetti.
Cook the pasta as if you were making it for dinner. Then place the cooked pasta in a bowl of colored water for 1hrs or until the color gets soaked in. Drain and is ready!
Ingredients
- 1 box of pasta of choice (bowties, fussilli or spaghetti are my favorite)
- 7-10 drops of food coloring
- Bowls
Instructions
- Cook the pasta according to the package directions but do not add any oil.
- While the pasta is cooking, fill several mixing bowls (one for each color) about 3/4 the way full with cold water and ice
- Add several drops of food coloring to the water in each bowl.
- Add a few tablespoons of vinegar to each water bowl. The vinegar will help the color stay in the pasta and not your little one’s hand.
- When the pasta has finished cooking, carefully strain the water from the bowl, immediately distribute the cooked pasta among the bowls of colored water you have prepared.
- Let the pasta sit for about 1 hour or until the color has been fully absorbed by the pasta.
- Drain the colored water and rinse the pasta to remove any leftover color.
- Drizzle a bit of olive oil over the pasta to keep the pasta from sticking together.
- Add the pasta to your sensory bin and let the fun begin!
Pre-Writing Skills
Kids learn through play (actually, we all do!), and we take this opportunity to set up invitations to learn through sensory bins.
When I set this up for the class, I wanted the kids to work on fine motor and cross-body movements.
Cross–body movements are when the left arms cross over to the right side of the body or right arms cross over to the left side of the body. These movements create new neuropath connections in the brain and help to cement newly learned material in the memory
For this cross-body movement to happen, place small bowls and cups on the left to encourage transferring from one side to the next.
Clean up Tips for setting up the Pasta Sensory Bin
Sensory play can be messy! But it doesn’t have to be a headache if you plan ahead of time. Here are a few tips to make this activity less messy and more successful.
- Prepare the area: place a table cover under your table and underneath your table to catch all the mess and pasta that falls over.
- Creating a yes environment: Avous the word no or interrupting play how things should be done. What can you do to avoid saying no? Is it better to play outside? To get a bigger sheet to cover the table? To provide less pasta to decrease the mess?
- Let them take risks during sensory play. This is the place for that. Sensory play needs to be successful when you let kids explore, try different things, and understand what happens when they do XYZ. If they mix the colored water into the pasta if they add too much cookie crumble.
- Less is ok: if you are not comfortable with messy play but still want to try this at home, start with smaller quantities. Just a small bowl with colored pasta and a muffin tin is all you need. You don’t need to cook the full box for messy play to be fun.
extend Play
Sensory play can be a lot of fun, and this pasta sensory bin set up was a great success in our class, and I’m sure it will be too in your home.
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