I love what we call butterfly pasta. Not only does my son eat it well, he plays with it well too.  We made this ages ago but between Easter and Mother’s Day crafts it got lost in the shuffle. As we pulled it out to play with it again I remembered I never posted this sensory activity. Although I didn’t photograph it I popped some of these butterflies into a clear Take and Toss sippy cup through a lid on it and my daughter has been using it as a shaker for weeks. So many uses!

1. Gather your materials. You will need some bowtie ( butterfly) pasta, food coloring, vinegar, ziploc bags, cookie sheets, a medium sized plastic tub, scoops, a divided tray and play tongs. You can also through in some penne pasta as ” Caterpillars”.
2. Start by putting a few drops of your favorite food coloring into a ziploc.
3. Add 1 tbsp of white vinegar.
4. Throw in a few handfuls of pasta. Shake until all the liquid is gone.
5. Pour out on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper to dry. The vinegar smell will lessen in time, even if it’s strong initially in a day or two it will be all but gone.
6. Make multiple colors.
7. Pour dry dyed pasta into a bin with scoops for little ones to explore, add penne pasta as caterpillars.
8. Using a divided tray you can sort the pasta by color using tongs.