DIY Painted Pasta Necklace

We’re in our last week of school holidays here and desperately looking to fill in the time and keep ourselves busy. Faced with a grey, rainy miserable day, I had to forgo the original plans of a “Beach Day!” and quickly look to other options.

I’m a big believer in the importance for kids to get creative; to use their imagination, their concentration, and self perseverance in order to manipulate their little hands in creating mini masterpieces! There’s a lot to be said, like this great article by Melissa Linton, for these ‘old fashioned’ activities – they can deliver more than the equivalent painting/drawing iPad app can.

This was a great activity to do with Miss 6. All of the equipment is simple and easy and can be readily found around the house. Which means you don’t need to have an exclusive members card to Office Works or the Art Shops in order to get creative.

DIY Painted Animal-Pasta Necklace + Jewellery

What You Will Need:

• acrylic based paints OR water paints (note: water based paints will need a few coats)
• paint brushes (size relative to the size of the pasta)
• paint mixing palate
• paper plates
• water cup for paintbrushes
• animal shaped pasta (penne or rigatoni would also work)
• string
• scissors
• plastic sheeting or plastic tablecloth
• art smocks

Steps:

1. Suit everyone up in art smocks to protect clothing
2. Cover the work area in plastic sheeting or an old plastic tablecloth
3. Lay out the paints, paintbrushes and a water cup for rinsing the paint brushes between colours. Remember to keep the water cup in the middle of the table to avoid stray elbows knocking it over
4. Cut the string to size (for necklaces or bracelets)
5. Portion the pasta into individual bowls for each child
6. Paint the pasta (I like rainbow colours) and place onto paper plates to dry
7. Once pasta is dry, thread onto string and fit
8. Set aside to dry completely whilst packing away and cleaning up
9. Wear the painted pasta jewellery and smile! 🙂

Note: The animal pasta we used was very small and could present a DANGER and CHOKING HAZARD to little munchkins. Be sure to keep all small objects out of reach of the newly crawling and curious minds.

We made our painted pasta necklace and jewellery in the morning whilst Little Viv had her  nap and were all cleaned and packed up and ready to meet BM for lunch without too much hassle.

>>> What kinds of arts and craft activities have you been doing lately?