This is a sweet craft activity that even a toddler can participate in and will prove a lasting keepsake gift for the lucky recipient, and makes a lovely Mother's Day gift.As well as looking very pretty, making these fun necklaces is a fantastic fine motor activity and should hopefully provide a few minutes of quiet concentration on a rainy afternoon.
Materials needed:
Dry pasta shapes such as penne or rigatoni
Four or five different food colourings
Four or five plastic food bags
Pipe cleaners or ribbon
Directions:
The pasta shapes need to be dyed to make them bright and colourful. Add a small handful of pasta shapes to a small sandwich bag and add around 10 drops of food colouring.
Seal the bag and shake the colouring. Use your fingers to rub the colouring over the shapes through the bag if needed.
Repeat this for each separate colour and then tip them out onto some kitchen towel and leave them to dry for an hour.
When they are dry, start to thread them onto long, coloured pipe cleaners to create a necklace or bracelet. Young children find using pipe cleaners much easier than string as they hold their shape and are stiff while threading.
Older children may like to use a pretty ribbon to thread onto, and could be given the challenge of making a repeating pattern too.
Add some small beads in between the pasta pieces for some variety or try spraying the pasta with shimmery metallic paints as a different way to colour them.
When the necklace is finished, twist the ends of the pipe cleaner around and tuck in any sharp edge that is remaining.
Wrap it up in some tissue paper and put it in a little box as a charming, homemade jewellery gift from a child to a loved one.
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