Noodles and String.
Remarkably simple, yet again... But still wildly fabulous.
This idea was born slightly out of desperation, and slightly out of a weird grade school flashback...
Landon had already played with the Bean Bucket for a couple of hours, played with trains, eaten lunch, played with blocks, had a snack... Basically he had done it all and still wanted more! So I ran to the pantry, rummaged around, saw some lonely pasta hanging out and a light bulb went off! Remember all of the zany art projects we were all subjected to as grade schoolers? Like gluing pasta on paper plates, making noodle necklaces, and even rolling penne in glue and glitter? I do!
I took another tupperware style tub just like in the Bean Bucket tutorial (these things are GREAT for easy, portable activities that you can clean up and store in a snap) and dumped in a half empty box of penne I had on the shelf. Then I cut two long pieces of cotton cord and knotted one end of each string.
You can leave it at that, or you can dip the end of the string into candle wax to make it easier to push through the noodles. I had some Scentsy warming on the counter so I just dipped the tip in about an inch, set it in the freezer to harden completely, and then put it in the tub with the noodles.
Then I placed the whole thing in front of Landon, showed him ONCE how to do it, and he was off. Creating noodle necklaces, noodle trains, noodles worms....
It is amazing how the mind of a 3 year old can work, right? Mind you these were all pretty much identical since I haven't yet dyed the noodles (COMING SOON!!!), and because I only had penne on hand. Since dried pasta is only a buck or two a box, I plan on picking up some more the next time I head to the store. Different shapes and sizes will be more interesting and also provide an opportunity to sort, compare relationships of size, and talks about differences.
Isn't learning fun?
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