Using that big batch of Kool-Aid dyed pasta we made, Travis helped put together beautiful food art jewelry over the weekend!

When our batch of pasta was first dry, he simply loved stirring through it with his hands, so I let him have fun that way for some time before even introducing the notion of bracelet making.

When the novelty wore off, I asked if he wanted to thread the pasta onto pipe cleaners. I made a small loop on one end of each pipe cleaner so the pasta wouldn’t slip off.

To my surprise, he was very deliberate about choosing which items to use. Our blue pasta came out a little funny (the Kool-Aid powder sort of clumped together), but that turned out to be Travis’s favorite, so he wanted to make an all-blue bracelet!

He loved threading the pasta so much that he wasn’t that interested in the beads I had laid out until the very end; your jewelry maker can alternate pasta and beads as much as they like!

When the bracelets are done, simply twist the end of the pipe cleaner around the loop you created to start (you can tuck the pokey bit inside a ziti tube to avoid any metal pricks for the wearer).

Travis also made up his very own creation – a “headband”!

Overall, this kept us busy for quite some time – a great weekend family project.