Threading Pasta Friendship Bracelets! 💕🤝

We’re a little late to do this but as it was Children’s Mental Health Week a couple of weeks ago, I wanted to do an age appropriate educational activity with Arabella that would spread some kindness. It felt important for me to address the subject, particularly in our current global pandemic and lockdown situation where mental health suffering is at a high. I have spoken to a few parents recently who are at their wits end with home schooling and fear for their children who are struggling to complete work at home and really missing their friends and class mates. Worryingly, kids are becoming upset, down and feeling lonely the longer this goes on. Hearing this absolutely broke my heart! Hopefully it won’t be too long until we are back in the classrooms and reunited with our friends but in the meantime I thought this was a lovely, easy activity to do from home that will spread some joy and friendliness.

The pasta is really easy to colour (see method below) and this is a brilliant and fun fine motor skill activity for little ones. This is always a popular activity at the funky finger station in my classroom. They absolutely love it and they love it even more when they know they are making something for themselves or someone they care about. Little sweethearts! 💞 You could leave these on the doorstep of your friends’ houses during lockdown.

What you need:

• Pasta

• Acrylic Paint

• Food bags

• A tray

• Ribbon/string

• Scissors

What to do:

1. Separate the pasta into food bags.

2. Add desired colour of paint into the food bags (I used 1 tbsp of paint but will depend on how much pasta you are using).

3. Seal the bag and ensure all of the pasta is covered with the paint.

4. Tip out the pasta on to a tray or paper towels to dry.

5. Leave to dry for 2 hours (I did actually leave mine to dry overnight).

6. Once dry, add some ribbon and scissors and start threading the pasta on to your ribbon to make some pretty bracelets!

Learning Opportunities:

- Physical development - Fine motor skills, finger manipulation and hand eye coordination.

- Expressive Arts & Design - Creating a design, exploring different materials and colours. - Personal, Social & Emotional Development - Developing bonds and friendships with others, sharing with others and talking about their own and others feelings.