This post is contributed by Jennifer of Sugar, Spice, and Glitter.
A Colorful Mobile Craft for Perfect for Spring!
Rainbow crafts are always a hit, but there’s something about Spring that makes them even more exciting and fresh. The kids and I recently did this Rainbow Mobile craft …
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Rainbow Mobile Craft for Kids
We did this craft over a few days, whenever we were stuck inside on a rainy day or when a couple of the kids were up from nap time early. There are several components to the craft, making it perfect for this type of project approach, but it can also be done in one longer stretch if your kids have longer attention spans.
Supplies:
- thick white paper plates
- cotton balls
- circle hole punch
- scissors
- yarn, string, or pipe cleaners
- 6 teaspoons rubbing alcohol
- red, yellow, and blue food coloring
- plastic food storage bags
- 3-6 cups uncooked penne pasta
1. How to Dye Pasta
To dye pasta, add 1/2 cup of dry pasta to a gallon sized plastic storage bag. Add a teaspoon of rubbing alcohol along with a few drops of food coloring.
Seal the bag and shake it, squish it, and generally just get that color all over the pasta in whatever way you can! You can re-use the same bag, just give it a quick rinse in between colors.
Dry the pasta on a baking sheet overnight.
2. How To Make the Rainbow Mobile
First, cut the paper plates in half and have the children make 6 – 7 holes along the straight edge of the plate. With younger children, these press-style hole punches are much easier to use.
Make sure to also punch an extra hole in the top of the paper plates if you plan on hanging them as mobiles. You’ll want it squarely in the center of the rounded edge, so it might be best if you punch that one.
Next, have children glue cotton balls all over the paper plates to make their own little clouds.
While the glue is drying, have the children make their rainbow threads.
I strongly recommend using pipe cleaners if you are doing this craft with younger children, as it is less frustrating when children are still learning fine motor control. Controlling the string and moving little fingers quickly enough to handle a wobbly material like string might be too hard.
While we stuck to one color per thread (or pipe cleaner), I really encourage you to let your children take the reins and place the pasta however they’d like on their strings. The final crafts will look gorgeous either way, and their pride in their creativity and independent work is more important than doing the craft perfectly.
Tie the strings of rainbow pasta onto the paper plates, and add an extra loop of string to the top hole for hanging. It’s all ready to hand and enjoy!
Do your children love all things rainbow, too? Where could you see these gorgeous rainbow mobile craft hanging in your home? Share with us in the comments below!
More Spring Crafts from Sugar, Spice, & Glitter:
More Rainbow Crafts from B-Inspired Mama:
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This post contains affiliate links. Please see our disclosure policy.
Gabrielle says
About how many rainbows does this make?
Krissy of B-Inspired Mama says
Great question! If you dye that much dried pasta, it will probably make around 4-5 rainbow crafts.
Sharleen says
How did you tie off the string so that the pasta didn’t fall off the bottom?
Krissy @ B-Inspired Mama says
Hi, Sharleen. This was a contributor’s post. But it looks like she put the string through the hole in the pasta and then tied the string to itself. Does that make sense?
Ana says
Very cute, but do we really have to use food for art? Wouldn’t it be better to buy the pasta and give it to a local food pantry and use some other craft material? It is very sad to realize that food is over abundant and cheap for us that we would waste it on a craft.
Krissy @ B-Inspired Mama says
I appreciate you sharing your opinion. I have heard this viewpoint on using food for art and play before. If it’s something that makes you or others uncomfortable, you could definitely limit it to expired food or use colorful beads from the store instead. However, consider also that purchasing beads and other craft supplies from a store opens up the issue of consumerism, too. It seems like we can’t win!