Dyed Pasta Eruptions

We've been overdue for a new batch bin of dyed pasta, and this time I thought it would be fun to make eruptions while dyeing our pasta.

Sensory Play with Pasta

Typically when we dye pasta for art and sensory play we use this simple vinegar and alcohol free recipe.  Pasta is one of our favorite sensory materials for many reasons, one of them being because it lasts forever.  It's so easy to dye a few boxes then store for months and months of sensory play.  I buy our dried pasta at Dollar Tree when I it's for play, so this ends up being a frugal sensory bin filler.  This time instead of using my standard method to dye the pasta, I thought it would be cool to dye the pasta using erupting dye.  My boys are more than a little obsessed with creating eruptions, so I knew they would be all over this.

How to Dye Pasta with Erupting Dye

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Supplies:

• dried pasta
• liquid watercolor paint or food coloring
• bowls/containers
• baking soda
• vinegar
• squeeze bottles
• wax paper

Directions:  I put roughly 1/4 cup of baking soda in the bottom of six containers.  I covered the baking soda with dry pasta.  I filled squeeze bottles with about 1/4 cup of vinegar and plenty of liquid watercolor paint.  A little paint goes a long way, but the more you use the more vibrant your pasta will be.  Food coloring could also be used.  I set up the bowls of pasta and squeeze bottles full of colorful vinegar and invited my boys to join me.

They had no idea the bottles contained vinegar, and they didn't notice the baking soda.  They were in for an awesome surprise.

At first they squeezed the bottle gingerly, and while the color was nice there wasn't enough to cause a reaction.  I encouraged them to squeeze hard, and that's when the fun began.

They giggled with delight and moved on to the other colors.  Please note that in order to get a good reaction I recommend not using too much pasta in each bowl.  The baking soda and vinegar will still fizz when combined, but it won't rise above the pasta if there is too much.  After all of the bubbles calmed down I shook the bowls well to be sure all the pasta was colored.  Then I spread out the pasta on wax paper to dry overnight.  You can also put dyed pasta in an oven on warm if you want to speed up the process.  On a hot day you can leave it outside to dry.  If all the baking soda doesn't dissolve your pasta will have small patches of white on it when dry.

For more recipes for play follow me on Pinterest.

More fun sensory materials to dye:

Colorful Eruptions ~ Painting Toast ~ Rainbow Slime Recipe