The Imagination Tree

Creative play and learning for kids

Bug Slime Spaghetti!

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Make some gloriously fun and creepy sensory play with this bug slime spaghetti messy play activity!Bugs in slimy spaghetti sensory play- great for Halloween!
I nearly chucked out a plateful of cooked spaghetti last night and stopped myself literally as I lifted the bin lid. There must be something we can do with this, surely?! (remember the spaghetti prints?)
Hello Bug Slime Spaghetti!
I mixed in a few drops of vegetable oil and some black food colouring and set it in a tray in the garden with some plastic toy bugs ready for some exploring and investigating!
The tray was boring apparently, so we tipped the slimy contents into a flowerpot instead. So much more fun and a bit more creepily realistic!
She stirred, dug deep and transferred between different pots, playing  hide and seek with the bugs.
Baby just loved to feel each piece individually, sliding it’s slimy length between her fingers. And to taste it too, of course, but thankfully it is completely edible, phew.
And then she tipped it onto her water-filled TubTrug, swooshed the contents around until it looked like some ghastly bog and stepped right in to sploosh around. How much fun is that?!

As usual, she thought of something far more exciting than I would have done and taught me a thing or two in the process. Why explore textures with just your hands when you have feet too?!

This activity is good for:
* creative and imaginative play
* language development through describing words and simple story-telling
* exploring new textures using a multi-sensory approach
* playing outside

See also our Rainbow Alphabet Spaghetti

Comments

  4. Susie says

    I am always so impressed with how messy you let your kids get. I am learning to let the mess go, but it’s a slower process than I’d like. Kudos to you.

  5. Mariah says

    I’d love to do this with my boys but somehow I don’t think they’d go for it. Two of them are scared of anything that moves and the other eats whatever he comes in contact with. This wouldn’t last 2 minutes lol. This is amazing though. I might try it and see how it goes anyway…

  7. Anna @ The Imagination Tree says

    Mariah just GO for it! Maybe you could put something less creepy in there to play with? Toy cars/ trucks/ lego etc? For most littlies it’s just the wonderful sensation of feeling the slimy spaghetti that does the trick! Plus, eating this is no problem at all 🙂

  8. Anna @ The Imagination Tree says

    Susie I have to say that they really didn’t get messy in this activity hardly at all! Much LESS mess than painting any day. I think because of the oil on the spaghetti the food colouring didn’t stain anything! Just a quick hand (and foot) wash and they were all clean. 🙂

  9. rachelle @ tinkerlab says

    Anna! This is fabulous. I just dumped a bunch of noodles out last night – covered already in sauce, unfortunately. I love those moments when a project turns toward the child’s interpretation — it seems to happen almost every time, doesn’t it?

  17. chrisirvin says

    Really love this idea. My five-year-old will have a blast with this. Last weekend we mixed a home-made slime with a batch of salt and flour play-dough and ended up with an amazingly messy good time. He loves nothing better that boys-day with his papa for creating messes. Thanks for the worm idea!

  19. Anonymous says

    Just found your website tonight, I am a mom of 3, oldest 7yo is on the autism spectrum. I got lots of ideas from your website, it ties in to a lot of sensory diet stuff I am aware of from the autism world. Love your pictures, your web site is a pleasure to look at.

  20. Miranda Risher says

    I have been reading alot of your blogs and many of them use food coloring and little hands. Does the food coloring stain their hands? I am going to be teaching preschool in a week and was getting some really good ideas but some parents may not like their kids to be stained up.