Make Spaghetti Art!

When your child smells the spaghetti simmering on the stove, she'll naturally think it’s dinner time. But surprise her instead with this fun craft that encourages imagination and creativity by using spaghetti to make art.  All you need are some spaghetti noodles and a few craft supplies and  you and your child are in for a truly different art experience.  This is a great activity for you and your child to do together while you both enjoy playing with your food!  Who knew that spaghetti could teach your child about shapes, lines and patterns? And best of all, there's no sauce required!

What You Need:

• Cooking pot
• Water
• Spaghetti
• Paper
• Paper Towels
• Markers

What to Do:

1. Boil a pot of water with enough liquid to cook a good amount of spaghetti (about half of a 1 lb box is a good amount).
2. Drain and rinse the spaghetti and place on a paper towel to dry. Pat the noodles down with the paper towels to make sure they they are completely dry.
3. Lay out some paper – you can use different colors – on a table for your child to start creating her masterpiece.
4. Encourage her to use the glue to draw out her designs on the paper. Place the spaghetti on top of the glue so it stays in place (even though the spaghetti will be quite sticky on its own.)
5. For ideas, encourage her to create a shape. Ask her to make a large square, for instance, and then a small square inside of it, or have her make a spiral or a squiggle. See how many shapes she can fit inside the other shapes. Talk to her about straight lines versus curvy lines. Discuss why a curvy line may be the same length as a straight line, even though it may look shorter. 
6. For more ideas, have your child use markers to create pictures of family members. Have her draw in her family members'  faces and use the spaghetti for the hair. Or she can try the reverse, use the spaghetti to create the face and draw the body.
7. The most important thing is to let your child have fun with the noodles and play with her food!  Encourage your child to play with shapes, designs and most importantly, her imagination!