Two days ago, my friend Sara sent me a blog link on how to make brightly colored pasta (you can view Simply Radiant’s very creative site here).  Sara’s girls were having a heyday with theirs–making necklaces, sorting them with a tweezers, gluing them onto construction paper.  Don’t you remember doing something similar as a child?  And wasn’t it the most fun ever?

It’s quite easy really.  Buy an assortment of pasta and 2 bottles of rubbing alcohol.  Place 1/3 to 1/2 cup of rubbing alcohol in single Ziploc bags with lots of food coloring (the more, the brighter!…and I found that my blue was a little shy because I should have added more).  Make sure the bags are sealed tightly, or double-bag them.  Supposedly, you’re supposed to cover the pasta completely with the rubbing alcohol/food coloring mixture, but I just kept rotating mine around, and it worked fine.  I left them in the bags for about 4 hours.  Then without rinsing, I poured the pasta into a sieve and drained.  I spread them out on a paper towel to dry (which happened quickly, thanks to the rubbing alcohol).

Ta-da!  There you have it.  Beautiful, jewel-toned pasta for any purpose you desire.  I introduced Liliana to them this morning, and she began designing her own games.

This afternoon, I thought I’d get out the glue, so we can form noodle collages.  [Sara recommended using a Q-tip for the glue application.  A great idea, isn’t it?]

Who knows what little L. will do?  The possibilities are endless!