How To Dye Noodles (For Noodle Necklaces)

The other day I wanted to use colored noodles for a craft in Preschool on St. Patty's Day.  I found a few different recipes, but this one had a couple of good points: it was super easy, and it was edible.  You know, just in case the kiddos take it home and munch on it (and I wouldn't put it past a couple of them).

Colored Noodles
from: instructables.com

vinegar
food coloring
dry noodles
ziploc bags

Place some noodles in a baggie.  Pour one teaspoon of vinegar in with the noodles.  Drop 4-5 drops of food coloring in with the noodles, too.  Seal it up and shake those noodles all around until the color is evenly distributed.  On a cookie sheet lined with wax paper, spread the colored noodles out to dry.  When they are dried, string them on some yarn for a colorful (and edible :) necklace. 

Homemade Play Dough

The other day the kids wanted to play with play dough.  Of course, the play dough was hard and yucky.  And, I really needed them to entertain themselves for an hour.  So we whipped ourselves up a batch of homemade play dough, which takes about 5 minutes, from start to finish.  And it is super soft.  And we added lavender essential oil so it smells nice.  We did green food coloring in ours, and none of the color came off on our hands. This recipe makes a lot of play dough, and if you store it in a ziplock bag, it will last for a long time.  If you have never made play dough, you really should!  (I'm saying this to my sisters, who all have young kids and probably hard play dough, as well.)

Homemade Play Dough
by: instructables.com

2 c. flour
2 c. warm water
1 c. salt
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1 Tbsp. cream of tarter (it said this was optional, but I used it)
food coloring
scented oils

In a large sauce pan, mix all of the ingredients together and stir it over low heat.  The dough will start to thicken.  Keep stirring.  It gets thick pretty fast.  When the dough pulls away from the side and clumps together in the center of the pan, remove it from the heat.  If it is still sticky, cook it a little longer.   When it has cooled, remove it from the pan and play!