How to dye pasta the easy way for kids crafts and sensory play! No mess, no waste and no rubbing alcohol!
I always keep a big batch of brightly coloured pasta on hand here in my daycare for the kids’ crafts and activities.
It’s great for threading necklaces, for sorting activities, and it’s especially wonderful to use as a base in our sensory bins.
Today I’m going to show you how to dye pasta using the easiest method I know of. (We also dye our rainbow rice this way, so check that out too – it’s excellent for sensory bins and crafts).
No-Mess, No Rubbing Alcohol
It’s quick and fun, there’s no mess, and unlike other recipes out there, it doesn’t contain rubbing alcohol.
To dye pasta, you’ll need:
- various types of dry pasta
- food colouring (we use Wilton Icing Gels because of their vibrant colours)
- white vinegar
- small bowl
- toothpicks
- container with lid
- baking rack
To keep the little hooligan busy while I preparing the activity, I filled a sectioned container with the pasta we would be using. She happily explored the pasta and scooped and poured it into a few different bowls while I got things ready. This, in itself, is a great activity for little ones.
We dye our pasta the same way we make our dyed rice for sensory play. Ours is a mess-free way to colour rice or pasta. There are no wasteful ziplock bags involved, and we don’t use rubbing alcohol to dilute and set the colour. We use vinegar.
Here’s how we do it.
Dyeing Your Pasta:
Time needed: 15 minutes
How to Dye Pasta
- Place pasta in container with lid
Pour your pasta into a container that has a tight-fitting lid.
- Add colour
In a small bowl, mix a generous dollop of food colouring with a teaspoon of vinegar. This helps to disperse the colour evenly over the pasta, especially if you’re using gel colouring which is quite thick compared to liquid colouring.
- Shake
Place the lid on (make sure it’s tight!), and let your little ones shake it like crazy!
- Check colour coverage
Pop the lid off to check the coverage. If your colour isn’t evenly distributed, sprinkle with another tsp of vinegar. Don’t worry if your pasta looks wet or soggy. It will dry quickly. The smell of vinegar will also dissipate as it dries.
- Dry your Pasta
Pour on to a baking rack, and set in a warm sunny place to dry. Ours only required a couple of hours beside the fireplace. Depending on the temperature of your home, you may need to let your pasta dry overnight.
- Store
Dry, dyed pasta will store indefinitely in a sealed container such as a plastic food storage container or a large glass jar.
That’s all there is to it!
When ours was ready, the wee one scooped all of the dyed pasta into a storage container.
How to store your coloured pasta?
Your dyed pasta will keep indefinitely as long as you store it in a dry place. I keep mine in a storage container with a lid or a large jar with a lid. Just make sure it’s thoroughly dry before packing it away for storage. We still have a little pasta left-over from a batch that we made two years ago!
Ways to Use Dyed Pasta for Play:
Pasta Necklaces for Mother’s Day
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Jackie is a mom, wife, home daycare provider, and the creative spirit behind Happy Hooligans. She specializes in kids’ crafts and activities, easy recipes, and parenting. She began blogging in 2011, and today, Happy Hooligans inspires more than 2 million parents, caregivers and Early Years Professionals all over the globe.
Claire farmer
Can you use ordinary vinegar?
happyhooligans
Yes, that’s what we use, Claire – ordinary white vinegar.
Claire farmer
Thanks for the reply I meant brown vinegar. I tried it yesterday and it worked fine. Looking forward to playing with it tomorrow.
Aletta
Hi, nice stuff! I was just wondering if the colour comes off on the hands. I am not used to food colours, so I don’t know how they behave really. Thanks.
happyhooligans
If you get the concentrated food colouring, straight out of the bottle or jar on your hands, they’ll stain, but by the end of the day (after a few hand-washes and doing dishes) mine are always clean. If you’re using liquid watercolours, there shouldn’t be any staining – they’re child friendly paints.
Aletta
many thanks for the quick reply (by the way, I couldn’t make the reply work, so here a new entry… :(). I meant whether the colour would come *after* the pasta/rice is colored, while playing that is. I got myself a tint, we’ll be trying it this weekend! Thanks again.
Magen
I was able to dry my pasta in 10 minutes in the oven at 350 degrees F, on a cookie sheet on wax paper, let cool for 15 and my granddaughter was ready to play.
elizabeth
Cooked or uncooked pasta?
happyhooligans
The pasta you see in this post is uncooked, Elizabeth, but you can certainly make some fun sensory bins with cooked, coloured pasta too!
Sheryl D Arvayo
Do you cook the pasta first?
happyhooligans
No, not for this activity, Sheryl. You can dye cooked pasta for fun sensory activities, but we wanted to be able to store and keep this pasta indefinitely, so we didn’t cook it.
Janelle Durham
Thanks for this post! I was working on my “ultimate guide to sensory tables” and needed good instructions for dyeing pasta that I could link to – yours was perfect. Thanks!
happyhooligans
Super! I’m so glad my post came in handy, Janelle!
Maureen
Once the pasta is colored can you then cook it without the color coming out as it cooks?
Jackie Currie
I don’t think so, Maureen. I believe the colour would probably leach out into the water.
cherry
Hi , can i know why must put vinegar? Is it for the colour to stay?
Jackie Currie
Yes, it sets the colour, Cherry.
Maggie
Hi! Love colored rice, my girl and me. Wondering, shaking in container doesn’t break up the pasta? Thank you for the post and so many ideas! Maggie
Jackie Currie
No, it doesn’t break the pasta up at all, Maggie.
agreso
Once the pasta is colored can you then cook it without the color coming out as it cooks?
Jackie Currie
I think the colour would leach out into the water.
Supriya Kutty
So happy to see this I got to know so much from this post of yours I am really very thankful to you. Before I could not do this properly but now you made it possible for me. Please do share such posts they are really very helpfull.
Sara
Can you use white wine vinegar?
Jackie Currie
Yes, that’s what I use, Sara.
Jeanine
Jackie! As usual, u come in with the SAVE! My youngest that was raised using MANY of Your Blog Acticities has far surpassed playing w coloured pasta in her teen years now ♀️. However, I have started finally working with children again, post-COVID & am so happy to to find u have a NON-rubbing alcohol recipe for dying pasta! A million thanks, from, a long time Canadian subscriber