Time to Play with Our Food

Time to combine two of my kids' favorite things:  finger painting and spaghetti.  It adds a fun twist to normal everyday finger painting.

Next time you break out the finger paint, just boil up some spaghetti noodles (or use leftovers from last nights dinner) and add it right into the paint.  Since its summer, we decided to take ours outside into the grass.  I put a couple of big pieces of paper on the ground with some bowls of different colored spaghetti paint.  The kids had so much fun painting with this mixture.  They experimented with making fun shapes on the paper by rolling it and throwing it (and my daughter even found it amusing to paint herself with the spaghetti).

When they were finished with the painting (which was a good hour after they started), we decided to make some spaghetti art.  I cut off little pieces of aluminum foil and placed them on the table. Then each kid took handfuls of spaghetti and arranged (or threw) it onto a piece of foil.  I had to join in on this part and make one too :)  When they were finished, I placed the foil with the art in a spot where it wouldn't be bothered and let it set for two days until it hardened.  Then, I gently pulled away the foil, added a piece of ribbon, and hung them from the kitchen window for us to enjoy!  I think we may make some more around Christmas for the Christmas tree.

This project was double the fun.  And the advantage of doing it outside during the summer, when they were finished they just jumped in the baby pool and washed themselves off.