A Fairy Princess DIY Activity

I live with two tiny fairy princesses or so they believe they are. As quarantine continues, we start everyday on a new adventure seeking educational but fun activities. My daughters picked out the book The Very Fairy Princess by Julie Andrews and Emma Walton Hamilton. This book sparked so many ideas, and immediately they wanted to bring out their Fairies Fantasies TOOB.

A DIY Activity fit for a Fairy Princess

Fantasy figurines help your child’s imagination to run free. The first thing we did was come up with a story together about the fairies. They came up with an elaborate tale about snakes attacking where the fairies lived and them being saved by knights in shining armor. So naturally, the teacher mom in me decided to turn this into a teachable moment and come up with an activity to practice their less than sharp scissor/cutting skills.

Here's what you'll need:

• Fairies Fantasies TOOB
• Cooked Spaghetti
• Gallon Size Ziploc bag
• Food Coloring
• Vegetable Oil or Olive Oil
• Bin/Container
• Children’s Scissors

How do you make DIY Colored Pasta?

1. Cook the spaghetti as per the instructions on the box. Cook about one or two minutes less than usual for a firmer noodle
2. Rinse under cold water
3. Divide the spaghetti into Ziploc bags using one bag per color you wish to use
4. Add about 6-9 drops of food coloring to each bag
5. Add a drop of vegetable oil or olive oil to help coat the noodles with color
6. Seal the bag and shake, shake, shake until noodles are completely coated in color
7. Add more food coloring if needed to obtain desired color saturation
8. Open bags and allow to sit for 45 minutes
9. Rinse noodles with cold water to remove excess food coloring
10. Add noodles and fairies to a bin/container

When it comes to colors, pink and purple are favorites in my house. We chose that vibrant combo for our spaghetti and then the girls hid the fairies in the noodles or “snakes”. I armed them with some child safe scissors and on they played and saved each fairy from the deadly snakes entangling them.

Cutting is not a skill I look forward to practicing with my kids. Cutting activities have often led to meltdowns as I am unable to help both children at the same time. They were extremely motivated to save the fairies, play with them once they were safe and chop up the noodles. I would recommend doing this activity outside to avoid stifling your child’s creativity and encourage sensory play since it could get messy. This adorable activity was the perfect way for them to work on motor skills, practice cutting, imagine and explore without getting frustrated.

Ariannie Machado is a certified Elementary Education teacher with a masters in Special Education and mother of twin toddler girls! Follow along with her on Instagram @ariannie__