Colored Pasta

At the same time I colored pasta for our macaroni butterfly art, I also colored some penne and set it aside for use at a later date. A few days ago, Baby Bear saw the large bag of pasta sitting in the crafts closet and wanted to play with it. So, I poured the colored pasta out onto a baking sheet and let him explore. I also handed him a shoe lace we sometimes use for lacing practice and a short piece of PVC pipe. He immediately grabbed the shoe lace and tried stringing a piece of pasta. I taped one end to the floor to help keep the pasta from all sliding off, and I helped him add the pieces one by one, naming the colors as we worked. He had the patience to help string about a half dozen pieces and then decided the PVC pipe looked like more fun. He slid a piece through the tube and smiled in delight as it fell out the other end. After a few minutes of this, he began experimenting with ways to get the pasta to stay inside the pipe. He figured out that setting one end on the floor worked best. This made me smile as I watched him use and develop this problem solving skills. I think he prefers gluing the pasta to paper over playing with it because, well, it's glue! But, playing with the pasta in other ways proved fun as well.