USE YOUR NOODLE!

Mommy, I'm bored! Sound familiar? On those rainy days when the kids can't get outside and they can't find ANYTHING to play with (because of course, they have NO toys at all!!!), try trowing some pasta at them. Not literally of course, just gather the little ones up around the breakfast or dining table and then go dig out all of the boxes of noodles such as penne, lasagna, wagon wheels, bow tie, or any other pasta that you may have in the pantry. Now, this is where your imagination comes in. Use the pictures posted here as examples of fun little trains or princess tiara's that are easily stacked and glued together to create cute "toys". The kids will have a ball, and this project will keep them busy for quite some time. Like I said, let the kids use their imaginations while creating all sorts of fun things "using their noodle"! For the tiara above, all you need is a little plastic headband and of course some pasta. lay some newspaper down and either spray paint the little noodles different colors or use a paint brush and water colors to create a one-of-a-kind crown for your little princess! Just stack and glue the little pasta shapes into the desired shape on the headband, and voila! Your little Cinderella has a crown of her very own.

The train pictured here is also a lot of fun to make also. As you can see in the photo above, by using a little ingenuity, your little engineer can create a locomotive that all of his friends will envy! By gluing wagon wheel pasta to the bottom of lasagna noodles, and then stacking and gluing penne and other noodles together, you can create a a fabulous train. Also try painting it different colors. The trick here is to let your kids come up with all sorts of fun things using pasta. String noodles onto yarn or string for a fun necklace, glue onto poster board to make a sweet Fathers Day card for dad, paint and glue a few small pasta shapes to a hair clip for a cute hair accessory. The items that you can create are endless. All it requires is pasta, paint, glue, and a little imagination!

Have fun!

Erin